Wednesday’s non conference game against Illinois State was sandwiched between two important Big Ten weekend series, so Northwestern knew it needed to conserve its ammunition.
The Wildcats (13-22) did just that, getting a thoroughly productive outing from seven pitchers, none of whom pitched more than two innings. They combined to limit the Redbirds (19-16) to one unearned run on just three hits in NU’s 3-1 win at Rocky Miller Park.
After using eight pitchers last weekend against Minnesota, and with a tough Purdue series coming up, coach Paul Stevens said he needed to limit his starters’ labor and save their arms. He also wanted to give the Cats’ lesser-used relievers some innings of work and noted the collective effort on the mound was by design.
“That was on purpose, we were trying to get a little bit out of everyone,” Stevens said. “All the starters threw phenomenally (last) weekend, and some of these other guys aren’t getting as much time as we would like because (the starters) are doing such a great job. So at the end of the day, we knew that we were going to go through a large group of guys and I’m pleased with what they did.”
Freshman Luke Farrell started and threw two hitless innings before giving way to sophomore Quentin Williams, who put up nearly identical numbers in his two frames. By the time Williams exited, the Cats had scored twice and taken a lead they did not relinquish.
NU was on the board in the first inning when sophomore shortstop Trevor Stevens drove in classmate Paul Snieder with an RBI single down the left field line. The Cats tacked on a second run in the bottom of the third after senior Chad Noble-who had walked, stolen second and advanced to third on a groundout-scored on a wild pitch. Noble said the team’s offense, which produced seven hits Wednesday, has been in full swing lately, and he was encouraged by the pitchers’ performances.
“We’ve been getting 17, 18 hits a game,” Noble said. “So the offense has been rolling. And today the pitchers were, for the most part, throwing strikes and challenging everyone. They couldn’t hit us.”
The Cats added an insurance run in the seventh when Noble singled home sophomore Zach Morton, who had two hits from the leadoff spot. NU then held off a ninth-inning Illinois State rally, giving up a run before Snieder entered to secure his seventh save of the season.
Particularly heartening for the team was the brief but effective stint it got from reliever Steve Sanders. Sanders, who has struggled to get on the mound for the Cats due to injury, pitched two-thirds of an inning, striking out two batters and walking one. Though he wasn’t as sharp as he’d like, the junior looked capable of pitching in big situations for NU.
“He was a little up in the zone today, but besides that he did really well,” Noble said. “Every time he’s gotten in the game, he’s shown he can pitch. This is something for him to build on.”
Though Sanders said he broke “the cardinal sin of pitching” by walking the first batter he faced on four pitches, he settled down to strike out the next two at a critical spot in the seventh inning.
“On the first batter I was a little too excited,” Sanders said. “But I got my nerves down and my arm felt good. We got the ‘W’ and I was able to help get two outs. Everyone did a great job of embracing their role today.”
