Northwestern has made a habit of getting ahead early in its 12 wins.
The Wildcats have come back to win only twice when trailing after three innings.
On Wednesday, the Cats did not break the trend. After surrendering an early three-run deficit at home against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, NU fell, 7-2.
Freshman pitcher Francis Brooke was roughed up from the early going, allowing a leadoff double and two runs in the first inning. A homerun in the third inning capped off his outing and put NU (12-27) in a three-run hole. This day was a polar opposite from Brooke’s last midweek start against Elmhurst College, when he threw five scoreless innings to record his first collegiate win.
“I’m not faulting anyone,” coach Paul Stevens said. “Brooke struggled in the first couple of innings, and that’s pretty much when they put most of their runs on the board.”
Despite being in a 3-0 hole, NU did not panic. A risky two-out bunt by senior shortstop Tommy Finn in the third inning plated the Cats’ first run of the game. The following inning, NU answered back again with a run-scoring single by senior Tony Vercelli.
“If anything at all, being down by three runs early creates a sense of urgency to put some runs up early to make a comeback,” Finn said.
Freshman reliever Michael Jahns kept the Cats’ come-from-behind bid alive after taking over for Brooke. Jahns scattered two hits over three scoreless innings of relief while striking out two batters.
NU had an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the bottom half of the seventh inning but failed to advance runners from second and third. A Milwaukee run in the eighth inning stretched its lead to two runs.
Three Panthers runs in the ninth inning put the game out of reach.
“I would say this is our worst midweek game we’ve played thus far,” Finn said. “We couldn’t string timely hits together when we had runners on second and third. We just couldn’t get the job done.”
Although Finn said he thinks this was a midweek low, Milwaukee ranks among the best non-conference opponents NU has faced this season. Supported by seven of the nine hitters in the Milwaukee lineup hitting better than .300, the Panthers (19-19) have won 13 of their last 15 games.
“I think we came out ready to play, but they’re a very good team,” Vercelli said. “We knew they’d hit well, but we just couldn’t match them with the bat.”
Following a competitive series on the road against Ohio State – the top-ranked team in the Big Ten – NU will stay at home against against second-place Illinois.
But now that a rare midweek non conference loss is on the backburner, the Cats can look to extend their success at home, where they have won five of their last seven games.
“Our guys played hard, were aggressive at the plate, I won’t look too much into the loss except that we need to improve our play for this weekend,” Stevens said.
