Blown leads and an eight-game losing streak. Heading into last weekend, that’s what Northwestern was facing.
But on Saturday, NU (5-17, 1-1 Big Ten) snapped its losing streak with a convincing 13-4 win over Big Ten foe Purdue to split its first Big Ten series 1-1. The win came after the Wildcats were swept by both New Mexico and Kansas State – two 20-plus win teams.
“We needed a game like that,” Lashmet said. “What we learned from that game is that we know we can play with the best of the Big Ten. Purdue was ranked second in the conference last year, and we proved to ourselves and our opponents that we are here to play.”
NU lost all three games against New Mexico, starting with an 11-6 loss. It was the fourth time in the Cats’ previous six defeats that their opponents have come from behind to steal the win in their final at-bat. NU entered the bottom of the eight inning with a 6-4 lead, but New Mexico managed to score seven runs to secure the win.
The Cats ended the series with two more losses to the Lobos: 16-12 and 10-6, respectively. In its 28-run slugfest, NU fought hard to come back from a huge deficit, which was as large as 13 runs, but still came up short.
“New Mexico is the number-one offense in the country right now, and it’s tough to keep up with an offense that good,” sophomore third baseman Chris Lashmet said. “In all four of those games, we just had one bad inning when we kind of blew it.”
The blown leads did not stop there. Despite NU’s two-run lead entering the bottom of the eighth inning last Tuesday, Kansas State came from behind in the ninth to steal a 4-3 win. In the second game, NU entered the fourth inning with a commanding 7-0 lead. But for the second night in a row, Kansas State came back for a 12-8 win.
“We had the lead or were tied going into the seventh inning of at least five of the eight games we lost,” coach Paul Stevens said. “And at some point in all those games we broke down and it crushed us … But the experience we gained will pay dividends as we go along here.”
That tough experience helped the Cats in their opening Big Ten series against the Boilermakers. NU fell to Purdue, 4-3, on Friday, despite a complete game effort from reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Eric Jokisch. Jokisch was hampered by early errors from Lashmet and senior shortstop Tommy Finn, and allowed only one earned run over the nine frames.
But the second game proved to be different. NU dominated from the onset, picking up a 7-0 lead by the fifth inning. The Cats held onto the lead and smoothly sailed to a 13-4 victory, gathering two season-highs along the way – 13 runs and 15 hits – while batting .333 as a team.
Lashmet and junior left fielder Jake Goebbert, who had both been struggling so far this season, had strong performances to help the Cats pick up their first win in eight games.
Goebbert, who had two runs on Friday, went 4-for-4 on Saturday, finishing with three runs and three RBIs. NU scored in each inning he batted, and he ended the series with a .625 batting average. The conference took notice, as Goebbert was named Big Ten Baseball Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career.
NU’s pitching also prevailed. Junior southpaw Joe Muraski shut out Purdue for the first five innings, striking out a career-high eight players, without allowing a walk. With NU’s lead at 12-1, freshman Francis Brooke pitched the last three innings to pick up his first career save.
Stevens was excited not only about the win, but his team’s response to the difficult stretch.
“I really do believe they took to heart the message: when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” Stevens said. “They were the ones who had to evaluate their character, not me or any of the other coaches.
“This is their time and they had to show how tough they really are. I was very proud of what they accomplished and I look forward to what they will accomplish.”
