By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
Earlier this season, Northwestern coach Paul Stevens spoke of his desire for his starting pitchers to turn into finishers.
After a Michigan series in which the bullpen yielded a 9.53 ERA in 11 1/3 innings, Stevens’ relief pitching was relieved of its duties against Indiana. Despite four complete games from their starters, seven errors in the final two games left the Wildcats with a four-game split.
Senior Ryan Myers struck out five of the first seven batters he faced Sunday, en route to his first complete game of the season. He recorded his 11th strikeout of the game on his 156th pitch, closing NU’s (8-17, 2-6 Big Ten) series-opening 5-3 victory.
“I’m pretty sore,” said Myers, who scattered three runs on six hits in the nine-inning victory. “I don’t think I even threw 156 pitches in a high school start. But I knew that we needed a win and I was going to go out there to throw nine innings no matter how many pitches it took.”
Indiana (13-13, 3-5) entered the bottom of the sixth with a 3-0 lead, as NU’s offense again endured a slow start.
With two on and two outs, the Cats’ bats came alive. Freshman Jake Goebbert laced a double to center field, scoring juniors Aaron Newman and Jake Owens. Senior Caleb Fields followed with a single up the middle, scoring Goebbert to tie the game at 3.
But the big blow came three pitches later. Mired in a 2-for-16 slump, junior outfielder Max Mann slammed a 1-0 pitch from Indiana sophomore Tyler Tufts over the right field wall for a go-ahead two-run homer. The blast capped a five-run, two-out rally and put the Cats ahead for good.
Mann was 4 for 13 with four RBIs in the series.
“We finally got some balls that dropped and were able to string a few hits together,” Mann said. “I hit the ball hard my first two at-bats and I knew they were going to throw it away. I just hit it up in the jetstream and it took off.”
Schwartz sealed the Sunday doubleheader sweep. The southpaw tossed 93 pitches – 60 for strikes – to notch the first shutout of his NU career, leading the Cats to a 1-0 victory.
“I tried to throw a lot of strikes, and they got themselves out,” said Schwartz, who did not allow an extra-base hit.
NU’s offense was equally anemic, as its lone run came on Owens’ RBI groundout in the sixth.
Stellar defense backed the dominant starting pitching in Sunday’s victories, holding strong until the sixth inning of game one Monday.
Freshman pitcher Joe Muraski and the Cats faced a 2-1 deficit with two outs. Needing two strikes to get out of the jam, NU made errors on three consecutive plays, leading to three Hoosier runs.
The Cats staged a frantic rally in the seventh, as pinch hitter Rob Campbell’s bases-loaded walk cut the deficit to 5-4. But with two outs, leadoff hitter Aaron Newman grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Freshman Cole Livermore finished the series of firsts for NU’s pitchers in the second game, tossing his first career complete game. Despite the eight-inning start, three more errors by the defense left Livermore with his fifth loss of the season.
Entering the bottom of the ninth trailing 5-2, the Cats repeated game three’s course. Fields and Mann led off the frame with singles, bringing the tying run to the plate. But shortstop Tommy Finn fouled out, followed by catcher Geoff Dietz grounding into NU’s second consecutive game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
With a chance to sweep, Stevens said allowing Indiana to salvage the four-game split came down to those defensive miscues.
“If we could’ve made those plays, we could’ve shut those innings down,” he said. “We just didn’t make them, and it really hurt us.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
