This team has been outscored 154-153 in its 28 conference games.

This team is ranked third in the conference in runs, seventh in ERA and eighth in fielding percentage.

But this team is going into the last weekend of conference play tied for first in wins.

All year Northwestern (23-29, 19-9 Big Ten) has defied expectations and stayed in the driver’s seat of the Big Ten.

“These guys have found a way to play to a level we all believed they could play,” coach Paul Stevens said. “It’s not just one guy and maybe that was the incentive for a lot of these guys. It’s not one individual that’s going to make or break this team. It’s going to be all of us finding a way to get rolling in the same direction.”

Before the season, Baseball America picked the Wildcats to finish sixth in the Big Ten and picked only one NU player on its All-Conference Team – left fielder Anthony Wycklendt.

Not first baseman Pat McMahon, who hit .400 last year and is humming along to the tune of a .379 average on conference play this year.

Not pitcher Dan Brauer, who leads the Big Ten in strikeouts, has a 2.17 conference ERA and has been named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week three times this season.

Even if they were neglected coming into the season, the Cats have made their presence known by taking the conference lead after the first weekend and not relinquishing it.

“I don’t know if we are or if we aren’t (getting enough respect),” McMahon said. “It doesn’t really matter to us, we just take it game by game. We’ve either split or taken three out of four from every team we’ve played so far, so I hope we’re getting respect.”

The Cats kicked off the Big Ten season by going on the road and taking three out of four from Michigan in early April, the team with which they now sit tied atop the conference.

“We weren’t sure how good Michigan was at that time, so it was hard to say at that point,” McMahon said. “Then we kept winning and it started to become a reality that we might actually win the Big Ten.”

All the little things have been going for NU this year.

The Cats, who were 8-11 in one-run conference games the last two years, are 10-2 this year.

“It’s the little things that happen throughout the ball game that make it exciting at the end,” Stevens said. “It’s every pitch, it’s every play, it’s every inning: they all matter. It’s a big old clich