By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
With wins hard to come by this season, midweek games have been a time for Northwestern to experiment and evaluate.
But coming off their most successful weekend of the Big Ten season, the Wildcats had a different focus: maintaining momentum.
NU (14-32) carried its solid play from Minneapolis back to Evanston, notching a wire-to-wire 6-2 victory over Illinois-Chicago (26-17). The Cats have won four of their last six games, a stretch unmatched since mid-March.
“We’ve made a few adjustments,” Stevens said. “I’ve tried juggling things up a bit. Right now, it seems to be working.”
Those adjustments included a spot start for freshman Joe Muraski. Stevens surprised his first-year southpaw, who usually pitches on the weekends and is winless since March 20, with a chance to get some extra work. After pitching six strong innings and getting a no-decision in Friday’s win at Minnesota, the hurler responded, notching his third win of the season on three innings of shutout ball.
“It was nice to keep things going,” Muraski said. “I hit my spots today and hope to do the same against Michigan State (this weekend).”
Illinois-Chicago’s errant ways staked Muraski to an early lead. The Cats loaded the bases in the first inning on leadoff hits by junior Jake Owens and freshman Jake Goebbert and a walk by senior Caleb Fields. Salivating at the early opportunity, two of the Cats’ next three hitters were hit by pitches, leading to a 2-0 advantage.
Batting second for the second straight game, Goebbert jump-started the offense in the second inning, reaching on a ground ball booted by Illinois-Chicago shortstop Chad Schroeder. The botched play led to three straight Cats’ singles, plating two more runs.
“We finally have a good aura around us,” said Goebbert, who finished 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored. “We’re finally playing with confidence.”
Crippled by blown leads in past games, Stevens’ bullpen bore down.
Reliever David Jensen cooled the Flames’ bats for the next three innings. While Illinois-Chicago got the leadoff man on in each of those frames, the freshman persisted, stranding four runners. The Flames left 12 runners on base in the game.
“You can make all the changes you want in the world,” Stevens said. “Nothing happens unless the guys do what you’re asking them to do. They’re doing it pretty well and I’m pretty proud of them.”
But the minute Jensen departed, the Flames’ offense looked to spur a comeback. Fields’ leadoff error in the seventh inning allowed the Horizon League leaders another chance. Two singles later, Illinois-Chicago slugger Larry Gempp Jr. stepped to the plate, looking to cut the Cats’ lead to one run. Gempp entered the game with 63 hits and 41 RBIs in 160 at-bats.
Catcher Chad Noble, who entered as a defensive replacement for senior Geoff Dietz in the fourth inning, closed the door on the Flames’ threat.
The freshman snagged a 3-2 fastball from reliever Jonathan Purcell and gunned a strike to third base, nailing Illinois-Chicago’s attempted double steal and completing the inning-ending double play. Noble also struck with his bat, ripping an RBI single to left in the fifth inning to extend NU’s lead to 5-0.
“I had no warning,” Noble said of his unexpected entry into the game. “I just sprinted to the plate. I had to do what I had to do.”
With the Cats catching fire later in the season than he had hoped, Noble said their engine for their final pair of Big Ten series required fuel from all three sides of the ball.
“We’ve got to click on all cylinders,” he said. “We have to play defense, pitch and hit. That’s all there is to it.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
