The second inning Saturday was a double-stuffed, four-run period for the Wildcats (12-22) in their 6-5 victory over the Golden Gophers.

With junior third baseman Chris Lashmet hitting a lead-off two-bagger, and with two walked batters sandwiched between a pair of doubles by freshman designated hitter Colby Everett and sophomore left fielder Geoff Rowan, the Cats’ extra-base hits were the difference between a win and a loss.

“(Hitting extra-base hits) helps,” Lashmet said. “It definitely helps. It gets runners in scoring position right away. You don’t have to bunt them over. … It’s easier to score them.”

Before that second game against Minnesota, 23.6 percent of Northwestern’s hits were extra-base knocks. The number skyrocketed to 60 percent during that contest. For a team that often scores by stringing together seeing-eye singles, the change was noticeable.

Coach Paul Stevens said the bigger hits aren’t necessarily due to a team-wide increase in power.

“They’d like to have me tell you that it’s the amount of time they’re spending in the weight room,” Stevens said. “But … we’re taking advantage of people moving right or left on balls that we’re hitting. And we’re running the bases a little bit more intelligently.” Stevens noted the team has also focused more on an aggressive, gambling approach.

This might mean less of a focus on bunting, which the Cats have experimented with a good bit throughout the earlier part of the season, sometimes getting down successful bunts, sometimes striking out on attempts. In the second game against Minnesota, NU executed just one, a sacrifice bunt by Rowan in the eighth.

The bigger knocks haven’t just come on doubles and triples; one-fifth of the Cats’ 15 home runs came over the weekend against the Golden Gophers. Sophomore first baseman Paul Snieder hit one deep right in the Cats’ first game, while Lashment and sophomore shortstop Trevor Stevens each blasted one in the last contest of the series.

Coach Stevens said Lashmet’s two doubles in the second game might have also been long balls if it weren’t for the wind.

“They were balls that were hard and a long way,” Stevens said. “The left fielder, on the second one, turned and (looked over his shoulder) and didn’t even move, and then all of a sudden you saw the wind take it and start bringing it down. The left fielder thought the ball was crushed and gone. And so did I.”

Stevens said his players just “got the barrel to the ball and let it work for itself and hit through a lot of balls” over the weekend. He added that the deeper hits were still supplemented by a number of base hits “that found green pastures between people.”

How the team has managed to effectively meld deep and short knocks into a smoother style of play might remain a mystery. After saying he worked with Lashmet on his approach between games one and two of the Minnesota series, Stevens said he couldn’t reveal what he and “Lash” talked about until the end of the season.

Stevens said the team will work on more efficient base-running, heading into NU’s midweek contest against Illinois State (15-15) at 3 p.m. [email protected]