Playing against the top-ranked team in the conference without three starters might seem like a recipe for disaster.
In spite of the challenge, Northwestern (12-26, 3-10 Big Ten) stayed more than close to Ohio State in all three games, winning the third to finish 1-2 in the weekend series. The Wildcats scored 21 runs over the weekend, the team’s most in any Big Ten series this season, despite playing without sophomore Chris Lashmet, junior Jake Goebbert and freshman Quentin Williams. Lashmet and Goebbert were out with injuries, and Williams, who also plays football for NU, participated in the spring football game.
“We had three starters in our lineup not usually in it,” coach Paul Stevens said. “It was very interesting, but it was even more interesting to watch how these guys competed … with all the adversity they have had, to take the pitching staff of the No. 1 team, what this team did offensively this weekend was absolutely tremendous.”
The Cats got off to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning of game one and were able to hold the Buckeyes (31-10, 11-4), who are ranked first in runs scored in the conference, to just one run in the first four innings.
Junior starting pitcher Joe Muraski backed up the strong offense, allowing only three runs in six and two-thirds innings. Despite heading into the ninth inning with a one-run lead, the Cats allowed the Buckeyes to score two and steal the 5-4 win.
“We got hosed really bad in that situation,” Paul Stevens said. “There were some calls that went against us in the ninth inning that should have not went against us. Obviously, things didn’t fall in our directions, and we could have been totally demoralized by that. The game was stolen. But the matter of the fact is that our kids kept playing.”
Even with the loss, the Cats kept fighting. In lieu of a back-and-forth battle, NU was unable to rally in the second game. The Cats scored first for the second day in a row when freshman Trevor Stevens hit a double to center field and eventually scored off of fellow freshman Paul Snieder’s double.
But the lead did not last long. The Buckeyes quickly answered with four runs against Eric Jokisch to gain a 4-1 lead.
The Cats refused to let the lead grow, but were unable to close the gap and eventually lost the game, 11-7. The Buckeyes out-hit the Cats by six.
“I feel like we just got out-hit,” junior Chad Noble said. “They had some really good pitchers in the game. But we lost three starters, so to put up seven or eight runs in the second game was good.”
After losing two close games, the Cats refused to go home without a win. They took another early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but this time, they held on to it.
Led by Noble’s hot hitting, the Cats extended their lead to 3-0, putting pressure on Ohio State. Although the Buckeyes threatened with a pair of runs, the Cats responded on offense to take a 10-4 lead, after scoring seven runs in three innings.
Ohio State’s attempt to rally back in the ninth fell short. The Buckeyes scored only two runs to end the game 10-6 against sophomore Cole Livermore, who came in to relieve junior David Jensen.
Trevor Stevens had three hits and three runs in the win, ending the week with a .526 batting average and collecting his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. Five pitchers also came into help hold the Buckeyes under their season average of 8.24 runs per game.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Paul Stevens said. “I was proud of all the guys we put in, and we played a lot of guys that we haven’t played a lot before. Those guys deserve a tremendous amount of credit for stepping up and doing a really good job.”
