Good pitching shuts down good hitting, Northwestern baseballcoach Paul Stevens says.
The coach expected the pitching to be NU’s strength this season,but the hurlers — both starters and relievers — haven’tconsistently done the job.
So maybe that explains the Wildcats’ 6-10 conference record forthe first half of the Big Ten season.
“Our guys are giving us a maximum amount of effort, but I justthink sometimes we’re not pitching very efficiently and we’re notclosing things out,” Stevens said. “That phase of our game in thesecond half has to start to live up to the expectations that we hadfor it early on.”
After four weeks of Big Ten play, the Cats are ninth in the BigTen. Starting pitcher J.A. Happ said he and the other pitcherstalked about what they should be doing differently after NU lostthree of four games to Minnesota over the weekend.
“The only way to get better is to work harder,” Happ said. “Ithink for any team, the pitching is always going to make or breakin how you do on weekends.
“We need to work on getting ahead of hitters and gettingfirst-pitch strikes.”
Happ, who pitched a nine-inning shutout against Indiana in thefirst Big Ten weekend, has not been as consistent as he or his teamhoped. In Friday’s game against Minnesota, Happ let up six runs infive innings.
As the pitching staff struggles to get on top of its game, NU’shitters have been swinging the bat more powerfully than Stevensever expected. First baseman Mark Ori and catcher Dan Pohlman havebeen hot at the plate for the first half of the season.
Ori is batting .359 and Pohlman has 33 RBI this season.
“Overall hitting has been far better than what my expectationfor it was,” Stevens said. “If you had told me we’d be hittingbetween .290 and .300, I would have told you I’d be the happiestguy in the world, because that hasn’t happened in the past fewyears.”
The Cats are hitting .299 as a team, the fifth-best battingaverage in the Big Ten.
Even with its high average, NU has struggled to playconsistently this season.
They’ve eked out some exciting wins — thanks to second basemanCaleb Field’s walk-off homer against Indiana and Pohlman’s walk-offin extra innings against Purdue.
But some games were heartbreakingly close losses — such as a5-4 loss to Penn State that was decided on a Nittany Liontwo-strike, two-out, two-run home run or a 6-5 loss to Penn Statethat went 11 innings.
“I think it comes from a combination of things,” Pohlman said ofthe team’s close losses. “It comes from guys being satisfied withleads and not really wanting to put people away. I thinkoffensively we’ve fallen asleep sometimes and sat on leads when itwas important that we take advantage of certain situations in thegame and add to that lead, and it comes back to bite us in the asslater.”
In other games, the Cats let a small deficit grow into apainfully wide margin. In Sunday’s game against Minnesota, theGophers took a 5-3 lead in the third, then added five more runs inthe eighth and one in the ninth. The Cats lost the contest12-3.
Often the team seems to lack that competitive edge, Stevenssaid.
“I’m not saying they don’t have a killer instinct. I’m justsaying we have to elevate that killer instinct up a little bitmore,” Stevens said. “It’s just this intestinal drive to sit thereand put the nail in the coffin to secure those games.
“We are so close, and the part of the game that can elevate usto that next level is if our pitching staff grabs the bull by thehorns the way I know they can and takes us. And that’s what I fullyexpect to happen over the next four weeks.”
