The Northwestern baseball team was in the midst of a 12-inning marathon at Michigan State late Saturday afternoon. But at the same time, almost 300 miles away, the team’s hopes for a Big Ten tournament berth already had been squashed, as Indiana fell to Purdue.
Sophomore reliever Julio Siberio walked in a run in the bottom of the 12th to end the game as NU dropped the first contest of Saturday’s doubleheader against Michigan State, 5-4.
The Cats lost again on Sunday but won Friday’s contest and the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader to split the series in East Lansing, Mich. NU finished the regular season in seventh place in the Big Ten, three games behind Penn State, which earned the sixth and final tournament spot.
NU picked up 14 hits in Saturday’s loss, three more than the Spartans. Both teams stranded 12 baserunners.
“We hit well, but not when we needed it,” senior Dan Pohlman said. “We had two or three chances in the last three innings with runners in scoring position, and we couldn’t get runs. There was a lack of execution by both teams, and that was why the game was so long.”
With two outs and runners on first and second base in the bottom of the 12th, Siberio went to the mound as the Cats’ fifth pitcher of the game. Siberio allowed a single to load the bases and walked in the winning run on a 3-2 pitch.
“Our relief pitching was sketchy, to say the least,” coach Paul Stevens said.
Overall the Cats’ pitching was inconsistent against the Spartans, as it has been most of the year. In addition to Siberio’s game-ending walk, freshman pitcher George Kontos gave up seven earned runs on nine hits in four innings during Sunday’s 8-7 loss.
On Friday, however, junior pitcher J.A. Happ allowed just five in a hits complete-game shutout — his second in a row.
Happ struck out 10 en route to a 3-0 win. He said he was pleased to end on a high note after struggling midway through the season.
“I’ve tried to stay working hard, and my control just finally came back,” Happ said. “I’ve been able to get ahead in the count and I felt really good on Friday. I’m glad I was able to finish strong.”
Happ, who is hoping to be selected in June’s Major League Baseball draft, is unsure if he will return for his senior season.
“It depends on where I get taken and whether it’s a good idea or not to leave,” Happ said.
“Coming into this year, we had a chance to win the Big Ten. It’s frustrating when the season’s over and we know we didn’t use the talent we had.”
Although NU’s offense has improved since last season, it hasn’t always shown up in key situations. The Cats left 38 runners on base in their final four games.
“Half of our losses are by one or two runs,” Pohlman said. “A glaring problem for this team all year has been that we don’t get runners in. And it’s tough when you know you can execute.”
