BASEBALL
Northwestern followed the lead of its fielding to a 3-1 series win this weekend against Iowa.
In the first three games, the Wildcats (21-18, 10-10 Big Ten) committed no errors and made several dazzling plays in the field, including junior left fielder Anthony Wycklendt’s home-run-robbing grab in the third inning of the third game. The Cats won all three.
But Sunday the show-stopping plays were sparse and NU committed four errors as the Hawkeyes (19-22, 12-8) won 6-5 in 11 innings.
“Our team’s kind of taken on the attitude that we’ve got to make every play that we can,” said sophomore second baseman Caleb Fields, who flashed his share of leather during the series. “Important plays will make or break a game.”
Few were more important than Wycklendt’s snag. With two on, two outs and four runs in for Iowa, Hawkeyes center fielder Jesse Brownell pounded an offering from NU senior starter Chris Davidson deep into left field.
But Wycklendt skied above the fence and took three runs away from the Hawkeyes, keeping the game within shouting distance at 4-0.
The Cats came back to win 7-6.
“I don’t know if it feels better to rob one of those or to hit a home run,” said Wycklendt, who hit his eighth home run of the season in Saturday’s 8-4 game-one victory that followed a 6-5 win Friday.
With the field wet with rain Sunday, the same balls that scooped up so effortlessly earlier in the weekend seemed to confound the Cats.
Typically solid freshman center fielder Aaron Newman committed three errors, one caused by a collision with Fields that forced the second baseman to drop a pop fly. Fields left the game but was walking around the dugout afterward.
“It seemed like I couldn’t get a break out there,” said Newman, who also misplayed two singles that allowed baserunners to take an extra base. “Everything was taking hard bounces, but that’s not an excuse. I’ve just got to find a way to get it done out there.”
The game, which was delayed shortly by the collision in the sixth and by a mix of rain and sleet in the middle of the second inning, also featured a bizarre ending.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 11th, freshman right fielder Max Mann hit a weak ground ball to third baseman Luis Andrulonis and was thrown out. But Mann limped out of the box and left the base paths, claiming he fouled the ball off his thigh and deserved another swing.
Mann and coach Paul Stevens appealed, but umpire Bill Lopina stuck with his original call and the game was over.
“I believe it hit my leg,” Mann said. “It was a questionable call. It could have gone either way.”
Junior catcher Pat McMahon, who entered the series leading the Big Ten in batting average at .435, went 4 for 17 over the weekend and dropped his average to .412.
“Mac looked terrible (this weekend),” Stevens said. “But Mac’s allowed to look terrible. He’s looked like a god for how many weeks now?”
The Cats won their first series since taking three games from Indiana in the opening weekend of the Big Ten season.
They are tied for fifth in the conference with Penn State, four games behind first-place Illinois.
“This is a great way to start the second half of the (Big Ten) season,” Stevens said. “It definitely has put us in a pretty good position.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected].
