After notching his third Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award and first Louisville Slugger National Pitcher of the Week honor, Northwestern sophomore J.A. Happ has plenty of reason to be cocky.
But the standout southpaw modestly brushes aside his 16-strikeout performance Saturday and the “Collegiate Baseball” accolade because he would rather focus on the Wildcats’ series against Michigan.
“I appreciate it, it’s definitely an honor,” Happ said. “But I’ve got to keep pitching.”
This weekend’s four games in Ann Arbor, Mich., are crucial for NU (23-17, 13-9 Big Ten), currently third in the conference, because the Wolverines (25-20, 12-10) are only one game behind the Cats.
NU will be relying on Happ and the rest of its pitching staff to hold the Wolverines at bay.
Three of the Cats’ starting pitchers boast ERAs in the top four of the conference. Junior Dan Konecny leads the pack with a 2.36 ERA, Happ follows with a 2.53 ERA and freshman Dan Brauer has a 2.55 ERA.
But this week belonged to Happ.
He learned about his latest Big Ten accolade by checking the conference Web site, but had no idea about the national nod. It wasn’t until he was eating at Sargent Hall on Monday afternoon that his teammates gave him the good news.
“After I found out, my dad called and my mom sent an e-mail with all these exclamation points in it,” Happ said.
The NU players are also supportive of him, but in a different way.
“We’ve been giving him a little bit of crap about it,” said Happ’s roommate and NU shortstop Jon Mikrut. “Yesterday I said, ‘Oh wow, I’m roommates with the national player of the week,’ and he just said, ‘all right, all right.'”
Konecny said he’s pleased about the national recognition his teammate received, but the award won’t change things around the dugout. For one thing, the Cats will still have to hide their towels from Happ.
“He’s got a tag-rolling habit,” Konecny said. “We’ll come into the dugout, and he’s there rolling the tags on our jackets out of nervousness. The other day he ripped the tag off of my towel because he wanted to roll it, and I wouldn’t let him.”
Happ’s habit is not confined to the diamond, and neither are his athletic abilities. The 6-foot-5 hurler from Peru, Ill., averaged 22 points per game for the St. Bede Academy basketball team his senior year. Happ also graced the school’s record book as its all-time leading scorer.
In fact, Happ said he didn’t sign early with the Cats because he was still entertaining offers from a few Illinois state schools, such as Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois, where he would have played both sports.
Lettering in two sports brought a lot of attention to Happ in his hometown of Peru. Although fewer than 10,000 people call the central Illinois town home, Happ is quick to dispel his teammates’ jokes that he’s a country boy.
“I guess people know who I am when I walk down the street,” Happ said. “But it’s not like my town’s in the middle of a cornfield. I mean, we have a mall.”
Perhaps Happ’s roots have given him the work ethic that’s led to his success this season.
“He just has this set-the-course, straight-ahead, all-systems-go-no-matter-what’s-in-his-way attitude,” NU coach Paul Stevens said. “Whether it’s calm seas or stormy seas, he finds a way to weather it all. The sky’s the limit for him.”
