By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
With three Big Ten conference series in the books and no series wins to date, several Northwestern players spoke last week of the dire importance of a successful road trip against Penn State.
Despite chances to win in the final inning in three of four contests in Happy Valley, the Wildcats came up empty against the middle-of-pack Nittany Lions.
On the heels of 10 losses in 11 games, with six of those losses by two runs or less, NU coach Paul Stevens said he was disappointed.
“It’s hard to be that close in those games and see those results,” Stevens said. “One swing of the bat, one pitch, one play affected every game. You name it, it was very disappointing.”
After dropping four straight against Michigan to start conference play, the weekend losses marked the first time the Cats were swept in two Big Ten series since the 2001 season.
Leading by three runs in the ninth inning of game one on Friday, NU (9-25, 3-13 Big Ten) was two outs away from a series-opening victory. Senior Dan Schwartz was pulled on his 156th pitch, after allowing consecutive hits to bring the tying run to the plate.
“A complete game’s the goal from pitch one, and I was on track,” said Schwartz, who joined Ryan Myers as the second NU starter to reach the 156-pitch plateau this season. “But 156 pitches later I was gassed. I had nothing left in the tank.”
Relievers Bo Schultz, Matt Havey and David Jensen failed to close the door. Three walks and a wild pitch later, Penn State outfielder Rick Marlin’s single gave the Nittany Lions the comeback victory, 7-6.
With the missed opportunity fresh in his mind, Myers took the hill for the second weekend in a row with a vengeance. The senior allowed three hits over seven frames in game two, yielding no earned runs. Penn State (16-19, 9-5) plated its only run on an RBI single after a costly two-out throwing error by third baseman Jake Owens.
In a mirror image of last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Illinois, in which the Cats managed just one hit, the offense was nowhere to be found. Caleb Fields’ fifth inning single represented the team’s only baserunner, as NU dropped another 1-0 decision.
“It’s a little frustrating,” Myers said. “You know your teammates are trying to score, but for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. You can’t get too hung up on it.”
Attempting to salvage a split, NU’s offense awoke in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader, led by a walk and two singles from Owens. But the Nittany Lions chased starter Joe Muraski in the fourth, scoring six early runs and holding on to win the game, 11-5. Since his complete-game victory against Massachusetts on March 20, the freshman has gone winless in his four Big Ten starts.
Looking to replicate his career performance against Illinois, freshman Cole Livermore recorded his team-leading third complete game Sunday. But trailing 6-4 in the ninth, the Cats went down 1-2-3, giving Penn State its first sweep of a conference series since 2004.
With eight Big Ten games left on the schedule, the Cats sit four games behind sixth-place Purdue, in jeopardy of missing the Big Ten tournament for the third time in the last four years.
But the tournament was not foremost on Stevens’ mind. His focus was toward the first inning of today’s game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (9-22).
“We need to concentrate on scenarios,” Stevens said. “Every pitch, at-bat, inning and game – that’s where we’re approaching it from. I can’t worry about the finish lines. If we take the strides we need to take, we can start getting the results.”
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