What a difference a week makes.
Even though Northwestern (2-6) went 1-3 this weekend in the RussMatt Central Florida Invite, the same result as the weekend before, the Cats put up a fight in each of their four games, thanks to improved hitting and clutch pitching performances by unlikely candidates.
“The first weekend, we kind of got our feet wet,” said sophomore third baseman Chris Lashmet. “The first weekend is always tough, but this weekend we were definitely more relaxed. We started seeing the ball better, and we showed signs of life. I think we’ll improve each weekend.”
NU played two games each against Massachusetts and Northeastern. The Cats dropped the first game against Massachusetts 4-3 due to a late inning surge, but they came back to win the second game 7-6. NU then fell to Northeastern in a doubleheader on Sunday, falling behind 6-4 in game one and surrendering a three-run lead in the seventh inning of game two, losing to Northeastern 4-3.
But considering that the games were much closer and within reach than the four other games they played two weekends ago in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge, where the pitching staff allowed 34 runs and the offense scored only ten runs, this weekend was an improvement.
“I think, as a pitching staff, we have a lot of freshmen,” said sophomore pitcher Eric Jokisch. “The first weekend is a whole new experience being in college ball, and throwing off a dirt mound is a big difference from what we throw off of in the cages. We knew what to expect this time, we started throwing strikes and we kept the ball in play. That’s all we need to do as a pitching staff.”
In its one win of the weekend, NU stayed resilient and scored twice in both the seventh and eighth innings to counter a 6-3 deficit against Massachusetts. Freshman Paul Snieder came into the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh and promptly hit a home run to pull the game to 6-4. Trailing 6-5 in the eighth inning, Snieder again came through in the clutch with a game-winning double that scored two runs.
Even with a lead, the Cats still had to rely on their young bullpen. Despite blowing a lead in their three losses this weekend, three-innings of scoreless relief from freshman Michael Jahns helped the Cats hold on for the 7-6 win.
“One aspect from the win that stood out, you have to notice how Michael Jahns closed out the game,” coach Paul Stevens said. “He came in and was just lights outs at the end of the ball game. He threw a tremendous last few innings.”
Although Jahns managed to secure an NU lead on Saturday, the rest of the pitching staff had trouble with the same task on Sunday. With the Cats leading 4-3 headed into the fourth inning of game one against Northeastern, freshman pitcher Francis Brooke allowed three runs, which led to a 6-4 loss. To make matters worse, NU blew a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning of its second game against Northeastern.
Despite the late collapse, the Cats are still satisfied with their unwillingness to quit in close games.
“The thing that I love more than anything is that a lot of guys are doing things we didn’t expect of them,” said Stevens. “I’m not happy with some of the results, but I’m surely not discouraged. “
One of the players that stepped up this past weekend is junior pitcher Joe Muraski. In the final game of the doubleheader, Muraski threw six scoreless innings and allowed only two hits.
“If you sat in the stands, you would have watched six innings of tremendous baseball being thrown by Joe,” Stevens said. “He didn’t deserve not getting a decision out of this. But unfortunately some things went wrong in the last couple innings, but that should not take anything away from how Joe Muraski pitched today.”
Even though the Cats finished the weekend on the wrong end of late-inning comebacks, the improvement from the week before is noticeable both on the field and in the box score. Still, NU is not satisfied with an improvement that results in three loses in four games.
“There are an awful lot of positives that evolved from last week into this week.” said Stevens. “And even though it did not culminate itself into wins, we were right there, and they were close ballgames. But believe I’m not happy and I’m not content. We need to do some things, and we are going to make those adjustments.”
