By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
During his college playing career, Paul Stevens learned more than the ins and outs of playing college baseball. While winning the 1976 NAIA championship at Lewis University, located 45 miles southwest of Evanston, Northwestern’s skipper found a mentor.
When Stevens received the Wildcats job in October 1987, one of the first people he called was his former coach, Gordon Gillespie. And of all the words he received from Gillespie, Stevens said learning about the multiple layers of a single game was the most important.
“It’s a game, within a game, within a game, within a game, within a game,” he said.
Those words took course 30 years later, during last year’s opener against Illinois. The Cats found themselves down 10-1 heading into the bottom of the third inning. Starter Ryan Myers left after yielding seven earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.
After taking three of four against Michigan in their first road series, a look of dejection was written on the Cats’ faces during their first game in Champaign, Ill.
“A lot of guys’ heads were down,” Stevens said. “But guys like (former NU players) Pat McMahon and Anthony Wycklendt kept running up and down the bench telling them to keep their heads up. That’s when I saw the emergence of who I knew would lead us.”
McMahon went on to be the first NU player to hit for the cycle since 1993. Wycklendt went on to have a career worst 0-for-6 day at the plate. But most notably, the Cats edged out the Illini 19-18, and went on to win three-of-four games in the series.
Although no Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy is handed to the winner, bragging rights will be on the line between the in-state rivals this weekend, when the Illini (11-13, 3-3 Big Ten) come to Evanston to face the Cats (8-17, 2-6).
Sophomore catcher Tony Vercelli knows the meaning of the series firsthand, as he was the high school catcher for Illini starter Tanner Roark. Roark and Vercelli were the battery for four years at Wilmington High School, leading the team to Illinois state titles in 2003 and 2005.
“There’s definitely a pride factor,” Vercelli said. “Catching him in high school, I feel like we have the upper hand. I’ll kind of know what’s coming.”
With McMahon and Wycklendt’s combined 122 hits from 2006 gone, and NU yet to score 19 runs in either of its first two Big Ten series, the team’s lineup has been shaken and stirred often this season. As NU searches for its new offensive leaders, a newcomer has been wedged in the middle: freshman Jake Goebbert.
Goebbert plugged the cleanup hole in all four games last weekend against Indiana, going 3 for 13 with three RBIs to raise his average to .299. He also saw time against Roark, but in football, as a three-sport athlete at Hampshire High School, located about an hour west of Evanston.
But along with those bragging rights, Goebbert spoke of the bus ride back from Indiana, after a disappointing doubleheader sweep that placed the Cats four games behind Big Ten-leading Michigan.
“It was quiet for sure,” Goebbert said. “We knew we let an opportunity slip away. We’re looking to go out there this weekend and take it to (Illinois) like any other Big Ten series.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
