Pitching problems plague Cats in 3 Big Ten losses
Strong hitters garner just 15 runs in a disappointing performance
By Becky Plevin
The Daily Northwestern
Northwestern baseball coach Paul Stevens held a somber team meeting on the field after Sunday’s 12-3 loss to Minnesota. The team had just lost its third game in a four-game home series against the Golden Gophers (22-15, 10-6 Big Ten).
“We have to learn from some of the things that didn’t go right,” Stevens said. “We’ve got to find ways to take advantage of opportunities offensively. We have to find a way to shut down big innings when they’re putting up big numbers on us, and when we get leads we have to find a way to hold them.
“If we can do that, I can tell you we’re going to be successful in the second half (of the season).”
The losses dropped the Cats to 9th in the Big Ten — three spots out of a playoff berth — with four weeks to go.
Their weekend got off to a rough start Friday when Wildcats starting pitcher J.A. Happ took on Minnesota’s Glen Perkins. Perkins easily won the pitching dual between two of the Big Ten’s best, shutting down the NU offense and allowing one unearned run.
Happ gave up six runs in five innings.
“I just wasn’t feeling comfortable and wasn’t throwing strikes,” Happ said. “I’ve probably never been this disappointed. It was a really big game for me to try to prove myself.”
NU’s next three starting pitchers put up decent performances. But in two games, it was when the relievers came in that the Cats took a turn for the worse.
With the Cats leading 3-0, pitcher Dan Konecny was in control of Saturday’s second game — until the sixth inning. Slippery conditions to rain distracted Konecny, and he allowed his first two runs of the game.
Tied at 4-4 in the seventh, the teams went into an extra inning. The Cats lost the game when reliever Julio Siberio came in to pitch the extra inning, and gave up three runs on three hits.
In Sunday’s game, relievers inherited a 6-3 deficit from starting pitcher George Kontos in the eighth.
Kontos had lost a 3-2 lead in the third inning when an intentional walk resulted in three runs. The relievers allowed the Gophers to increase their lead to 11-3 after an ugly eighth inning.
Ryan Myers relieved Kontos, who had just given up a double and walked the next batter. But instead of clearing the threat, Myers gave up three runs. Andrew Smith closed the inning after giving up two more.
“(The bullpen) has kind of been our Achilles heel since Smith went down with mono,” Stevens said. “That pretty much killed the side of the bullpen we were really looking at.”
Smith had mono for the first half of the season and just is beginning to make a comeback.
Despite pitching problems, NU had strong hitting all weekend — especially after a change in the lineup created a hitting powerhouse. Mark Ori moved up into the third batting position, in front of clean-up batter Dan Pohlman and Jon Mikrut.
Ori hit 9 of 16 this weekend, and Pohlman hit 7 of 14, but they each scored only one run for the weekend. Too many batters were left stranded on base, giving NU only 15 runs in the series.
“Playing smart baseball is giving yourself up for an out in exchange for a run,” Pohlman said. “That’s what good teams do.
“There were a couple errors that leave your eyes spinning in your head. It always seems like that stuff happens, and the whole team is guilty of it. We’re not a good baseball team right now. The sooner people start recognizing that and start being honest with themselves is when we’re going to turn this thing around.”
