CHICAGO — Just about everybody pitched for the Northwestern baseball team Tuesday night.
All right, maybe not everybody. But seven Wildcats (22-23-1) saw time on the mound in a 9-3 loss to the Illinois-Chicago Flames (32-15). Of those seven hurlers, a few were surprising selections.
Down 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cats needed a boost on the mound. So coach Paul Stevens brought in … Caleb Fields?
“I found out I was pitching when they told me to go to the bullpen,” the freshman said. “They said I would probably get a shot, but I didn’t know when it would happen.”
Fields usually plays at second base, but junior Chris Hayes started at the spot for the fourth straight game.
Fields was the fourth hurler to take the mound for NU as he made his college pitching debut. But he struggled, facing just three batters while giving up three hits and three earned runs.
“I didn’t feel comfortable out there,” Fields said. “But Tuesday games are for trying things out. It can only go uphill from here.”
Senior Dan Pohlman also saw time on the mound, in between starting at catcher and finishing the game at first base.
Pohlman fanned two batters, more than any other pitcher, but gave up two hits and one earned run in his one inning of work.
“There’s a lot of pitching on the weekend, so I’m more than willing to pitch on Tuesday if the team needs me to,” Pohlman said. “I just wish I could have helped the team more.”
After a poor performance on Friday against Illinois, senior Dan Konecny got the start Tuesday and picked up his seventh loss of the season. Konecny gave up two earned runs and three hits in two innings.
NU coach Paul Stevens felt he needed to go to seven pitchers, including Fields, in order to get the job done on the mound.
“We have to try to find somebody to get us from point A to point B,” Stevens said. “Caleb came in (to college) as a pitcher/infielder, so we wanted to see what he had.”
Although the Cats showed improved fielding in winning three of four games against Illinois over the weekend, the defense didn’t carry over into Tuesday’s performance, Stevens said.
“Even though the scoreboard says there were just two errors, there were probably more mistakes in the field than anywhere else,” Stevens said.
The Cats also struggled on offense, picking up just seven hits while the Flames had 14.
Senior Jason Krynski and sophomore Anthony Wycklendt led the team with two hits each. Wycklendt went 2 for 4 with three RBI, including a leadoff home run to left field in the top of the ninth inning.
But no rally ensued, as the Cats were defeated in a game they had been losing since the bottom of the second inning.
NU clearly missed the presence of sophomore Mark Ori, who is hitting .380 on the season. Ori was having surgery on his broken nose, an injury that took place on May 2 against Iowa.
“It really hurt that Mark wasn’t here, with him having surgery on his nose,” Pohlman said. “But Illinois-Chicago is a good team.
“They hit the ball well.”
