CHICAGO – While watching one of Northwestern’s midweek matchups against programs from lower-tier conferences, the recurring question running through everyone’s minds must go something like this:
How in the hell is this team tied atop the Big Ten right now?
Tuesday night was no different as the Wildcats received a shellacking from the bats of Illinois-Chicago, losing 23-5. Give the Flames their due – they’re consistently one of the top teams in the Horizon League – but let’s be honest, when would you ever expect a team from the Horizon to be pummeling a Big Ten opponent in anything?
You know NU coach Paul Stevens isn’t rolling over and letting the Cats get clobbered out there. The man has way too much pride for that, illustrated by him keeping many of his starters in the game almost until the bitter end. Left fielder Anthony Wycklendt was beaned in the elbow early on, but even he was back out there in the next half inning.
Yet there is an air of “Who really cares?” about these midweek matchups. Wycklendt looked more excited hearing before the game that there was a TacoBurritoKing at the concession stand than thinking about the Cats’ contest with the vaunted Flames.
The game might as well have been a summer league matchup in Venezuela, with the fans sipping back naranja-flavored Topo Sabores and dining on chicken tacos.
Those visions of humid paradise were quickly erased, however, every time the scoreboard operator played a goofy sound effect, like “Sega!” and “Pizza! Pizza!” when a Flames’ runner reached base in the second inning. I really knew I was back in the States when the Illinois-Chicago marketing department gave out free T-shirts in the middle of the fourth. Nothing comes cheap in Latin America, except dictators.
It still had to have felt good for the Illinois-Chicago batters to beat up on NU’s pitchers, with eight out of nine Flames’ starters collecting a hit by the third inning. The Flames tagged starter Dan Schwartz for 10 runs in two innings, and it was considered a success when reliever Chris Davidson allowed two runs in the next three frames.
Granted, Schwartz and Davidson aren’t going to be winning any games for the Cats during conference play, but it’s not like senior Ted Rosinski was tearing up the Horizon when he hit his first homer of the season over the 401 sign in center during the first inning. In all, the Flames tallied 11 runs in the first three innings, highlighted by a seed-shot-out-of-a-cannon homer from the Ragin’ Cajun himself, Bart “Simpson” Babineaux, and a bomb to dead center from 5-foot-10, 170-pound Larry Gempp “Don’t call me Griffey” Jr.
What’s really amazing, though, is that none of this really seems to bother the Cats, as it shouldn’t. I don’t know how you put seemingly embarrassing losses to Robert Morris, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Northern Illinois behind you, but NU has managed to.
Every weekend in the Big Ten, Stevens and his coaching staff have the Cats ready to play. Better this way than winning the non-conference and taking these kinds of beatings in the Big Ten.
“If this was a Big Ten game, you wouldn’t even be standing here talking with me,” laughed Stevens, who probably would have stormed off the field and killed most of his players immediately after a conference game.
And while a 16-run loss to a local rival would unsettle most teams, don’t expect the Cats to come unraveled this weekend against Michigan State. In fact, they probably won’t give up 23 runs in the entire series.
It’s not the most orthodox way of going about winning a Big Ten title, but if the poundings work, keep them coming.
Sports editor Zach Silka is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
