BASEBALL
With their Big Ten tournament hopes already dashed, the Wildcats found themselves down 10-0 in the fifth inning of the series opener against Michigan State on Friday.
But instead of quitting and moving on in the series that didn’t matter, Northwestern (26-28, 14-18 Big Ten) scored 15 unanswered runs to shock the Spartans (22-31, 10-18).
The Cats continued the comebacks in the next two games, coming back from a 4-0 deficit in game two and a 1-0 hole to begin the third game, before losing the finale 6-2.
Sunday’s loss secured NU’s seventh sub-.500 season in 10 years. The Cats finished below .500 in the Big Ten in nine of those ten campaigns.
“Granted we’re not going to go to the Big Ten tournament,” senior third baseman Mike Phelps said. “But we still want to win. There’s not as much at stake, so we just wanted to go out there and have some fun and finish the season off well.”
Junior catcher Pat McMahon set NU’s single-season hit record Sunday with his 82nd hit of the year. He is also the first NU player to hit .400 for a season since current major leaguer Mark Loretta hit .408 in 1993.
Because McMahon was 2 for 11 in the first three games of the series, including 0 for 6 on Saturday, he needed two hits Sunday to break the record.
“I didn’t sleep much last night,” McMahon said. “I was really stressed out about it, but I had a great season nonetheless so I wasn’t taking it too seriously. But it’s definitly some weight off my shoulders getting it done.”
The comeback in the first game set the tone for the rest of the weekend for NU.
Prior to the game, NU was 1-18 when trailing after seven innings.
After sophomore starter George Kontos (5-4) was pulled with one out in the third inning after giving up seven runs, junior Julio Siberio (2-1) came in and gave up three more runs in two and two-thirds innings, which put the Cats in a 10-0 deficit.
But NU scored four runs in the fifth inning followed by five in the sixth to cut the Michigan State lead to one.
After senior Jon Mikrut hit an RBI single to tie the game at 10 in the eighth, junior left fielder Anthony Wycklendt doubled, driving in three runs and putting the Cats ahead for good in a 15-10 win.
“They didn’t really have anything to play for,” Stevens said. “They’re down 10 runs early in the ballgame, by the fifth, and it could have been very easy to cash it in.”
In the 7-5 victory in game two of the series, NU found itself down with two innings left again before mounting a rally.
In two and one-third innings of work Saturday, sophomore reliever Dan Schwartz (4-0) didn’t give up a run and earned a win and a save in the doubleheader sweep.
In the series, NU relievers gave up four runs in 13 and two-thirds innings for a 2.63 ERA on the weekend.
“I think it’s kind of a luck of the draw with how hitters’ hit,” Schwartz said. “Sometimes the starters are amazing and the bullpen gets hit really hard. It just depends on matchups you throw.”
In NU’s 10-4 win in the second game Saturday, the Spartan pitchers struggled to find their control. Michigan State hit four batters and threw four wild pitches while the team committed three errors leading to four runs.
Sophomore second baseman Caleb Fields led the Cats offensively in his first confrence series back after suffering a concussion against Iowa on April 30. NU was 2-9 in Fields’ absence.
Fields was 10 for 16 in the series.
“If we would have had him in some of those other situations … it makes a difference,” Stevens said. “When you lose key components of your defensive aresenal and offensive one, you are going to struggle a little bit.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
