For the 41 fans in attendance at Rocky Miller Park on Tuesday, the scoreboard was a little confusing.
Where the number of runs the Northwestern baseball team scored in the seventh inning should have been illuminated in yellow lights, there was an empty gap.
Why? The Wildcats (17-19-1) scored 10, the most they’ve gotten in any inning this season and one too many digits for the appropriate scoreboard space.
Behind a nine-hit, 10-run rally in the seventh, NU overwhelmed Wisconsin-Milwaukee (14-21) in a nonconference contest, 15-4.
Down 4-2, NU senior Josh Lieberman kicked off the momentous inning by hitting a routine groundball to second base. But Lieberman hustled and managed to beat the throw to first.
“When Lieberman got on, guys got up off the bench and were like, ‘Here we go. We’re going to start playing like we know we can play,'” junior Chris Hayes said.
Five consecutive hits followed, including an RBI double by sophomore Mark Ori and an RBI single by senior Dan Pohlman that knocked in the go-ahead run.
Fourteen batters later, NU had a 12-4 lead before junior Jon Mikrut popped out to end the Cats’ biggest inning of the season.
“I think there’s always that ember that needs to be massaged a little bit,” coach Paul Stevens said. “We were close, and I could see that we were close. We just needed something to fan it.”
Ori and Pohlman each went 3 for 5, continuing their hot streaks and showing why NU’s No. 3 and No. 4 batters make up a serious back-to-back offensive threat. Pohlman knocked in a team-high three RBIs, all in the seventh.
Hayes had a big day in the ninth slot of NU’s lineup. The junior hit 2 for 5 with three RBIs.
But the Cats found positives beyond the offensive explosion. Freshman pitcher Andrew Smith went three relief innings, giving up no runs on four hits.
“I was just trying to get ahead with the fastball, keeping it down,” Smith said. “They were being pretty aggressive most of the time, swinging at the first or second pitch and chopping it into the ground.”
Smith was joined on the mound by four other NU hurlers, including starter and fellow freshman Ryan Myers. Myers gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits in the first three innings of the game.
NU’s pitchers combined for just one walk on the day.
“I was very pleased with the way our pitchers went out and pitched,” Stevens said. “I didn’t see a lot of walks. I didn’t see people going deep in the count today.”
Stevens played 19 of the 28 athletes on his roster, letting several reserves see playing time they typically don’t get in Big Ten contests.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee showed up for the game with just 13 uniform players due to injuries.
But involving most of the team and orchestrating a 10-run inning helped the Cats get over last weekend’s 1-3 series with Minnesota.
“It seems like guys certainly have the right mindset and are ready to break out this weekend,” Hayes said.
