A 5-for-5 performance from the plate wasn’t enough in game one. A complete-game four-hitter couldn’t get it done in game three. And an eight-run fourth inning was too much to overcome in the final game against Minnesota.
While the first three games Northwestern (17-17, 7-9 Big Ten) played against defending Big Ten champion Minnesota (21-16, 12-4) were decided by a combined three runs — NU went 1-2 — the Golden Gophers scored 15 runs and defeated the Wildcats by eight in the final game of the series. NU finished the weekend 1-3.
“You’re never excited coming out of a place 1-3,” coach Paul Stevens said. “But for as banged up as we were, we played our backsides off.”
After being forced out of his last appearance after four pitches due to a back injury, sophomore pitcher George Kontos (3-3) went the distance in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
“I’m about 85 to 90 percent,” Kontos said. “I didn’t really feel pain, just a little twinge in my side.”
He gave up three runs, two of them earned, on four hits while striking out three and not surrendering a walk in the loss.
“We were very excited he was able to pitch a whole game relatively pain free,” Stevens said. “That was pretty exciting because he was a big concern for us coming into this series and the ones coming up.”
NU got on the board first on an RBI triple from junior Anthony Wycklendt in the top of the second. Minnesota responded with two runs in the bottom of the third, followed by a solo home run in the fourth to secure the 3-2 win.
Junior Pat McMahon went 0 for 3 in the game, ending his 17-game hit streak in which he hit .446 and had 10 multi-hit games.
“I think Pat McMahon gets everything out of his ability anyone could ask for,” Stevens. “I don’t know what more you could ask out of Pat.”
In the first game of the doubleheader, NU got its only win of the series on a pinch-hit home run by sophomore Geoff Dietz in the first extra-inning frame.
With the Cats up 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth, center fielder Aaron Newman brought a would-be home run back into the park to preserve the lead.
“It was just one of those balls that barely went over the fence,” Newman said. “It was a ball you dream about catching. I don’t know how it happened, but it did.”
Senior closer Chris Hayes (3-0) came into the game in the seventh and gave up three runs, blowing his first save of the season — he had converted his first seven attempts.
After the Dietz home run put the Cats up 7-6, Hayes got the win after pitching a scoreless eighth.
In the series opener, NU out-hit Minnesota 16-11 behind a 5-for-5 performance by McMahon, but a Gophers home run in the eighth was too much for the Cats to overcome.
Starting pitcher sophomore Andrew Smith (1-4) lasted three innings, giving up eight runs and getting a no-decision. Senior Chris Davidson (0-1) relieved Smith in the fourth and gave up one run in a career-high five innings but was charged with the loss.
In the series finale on Sunday, freshman right fielder Max Mann hit two home runs to give NU an early 3-1 lead, but it wasn’t enough. Minnesota scored eight times in the fourth en route to a 15-7 win.
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
