WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –

One by one, every Northwestern player high-fived coach Paul Stevens after winning the regular season finale against Purdue.

A day after relinquishing the Big Ten regular season title to Michigan, the Wildcats were back to joking and having fun even before the win, an attitude that has kept them successful the whole conference season. This is the team that finished the pre-conference at 3-15, so the players knew they could come back from a loss or two.

“We couldn’t catch a break in the non-conference,” junior pitcher Dan Brauer said. “We kind of felt like the baseball gods owed us.”

With a second-place finish and first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament already secured before playing Sunday, the Cats had nothing to gain. A lot of coaches would have started scrubs and conceded the game while the players moped about finishing second. But not Stevens, who had his starters finish what they began.

In the bottom of the first inning, Stevens confronted an umpire to dispute a runner interference call and was probably as animated as he’s been all season. In the top of the seventh with NU up 11-8, junior Antonio Mul