Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald persuaded his players to take their schedule one game at a time. He forced his players to not worry about the week ahead, but to start each game with a 0-0 record.
Considering how successful Fitzgerald’s mantra was, coach Paul Stevens has decided to instill a similar philosophy: win one inning at a time.
“Basically, this weekend we want to win every inning we play,” Stevens said. “That’s what our focus is right now.”
The Wildcats commence their season this weekend in Florida in the inaugural Big East/Big Ten Challenge. NU will play its first game on Friday against Georgetown. On Saturday, it will face Big Ten foe Penn State, who finished third in the conference last year. NU will finish off the weekend by playing Connecticut and will play a fourth game with no affiliation to the tournament against West Virginia.
The first action of the year is coming against competition they are not used to facing, so the Cats will use this weekend to gauge where they stand nationally.
“It’s a great idea to have a Big Ten versus Big East match up,” said junior centerfielder Jake Goebbert, who will be making his first start at the position in his NU career. “It gives us a lot of confidence and pride for whatever conference that wins. It’s also great to face Penn State because we won’t face them this season. When we match up against them, we can see what type of caliber of team they are, and what we are.”
To make a solid assessment of the talent his team has, Stevens will look to field a team of expected starters and see how they respond to the opportunity. A collection of non-starters will get a chance to play this weekend as well. But as of now, Stevens will use these early season games to get that winning mentality on track.
“I think we’re going to go with the guys that we’ve designated to start,” Stevens said. “And we will see how the rest of them evolve into different situations that come up. Right now, I don’t know if that means everybody, or if that means three-fourths of them, but we’re going to use the people in situations that we feel are necessary to win ball games.”
Freshmen will play a larger role this season both at the plate and on the mound, with added depth on the pitching staff. Slated to fill in for Goebbert at first base is freshman Paul Snieder. Though inexperience at the collegiate level could be a concern, Snieder has the right mindset going into the season, as he’s already bought into Steven’s inning-by-inning strategy.
“I think we’re going to focus on competing hard each day, ” Snieder said. “Of course winning every inning will be the main focus for both pitchers and hitters. If the pitchers go out there and shut out the team for an inning, we have got to come out at the bats and try to score and help out the pitchers.”
