In his 23rd season as Northwestern’s coach, Paul Stevens knows the physical and mental grind of a baseball season. This week in particular he sees his players are worn out, hears the mutterings about midterms and grumblings about groin strains. The team has played five contests in the last week, and it is 40 games deep in its season.
Stevens knows they’re drained, and he’s proud of how his young team has responded to the toil of a long season.
“They’re tired,” he said. “They’ve played a lot of baseball. It’s getting to be that time of year where they’ve got a lot of things going on, maybe a few things that are distractions. I’m really pleased with how they come out every day and compete and play hard.”
The schedule doesn’t get any more forgiving this weekend, as NU travels to Champaign, Ill., to battle in-state rival Illinois. Tied for first place, the Wildcats appear to be the favorites over the eighth-place Illini.
But in the jumbled mess of parity that is the Big Ten, only two games separate the two teams, and Illinois has a better overall record than NU.
The Cats are banking on momentum to continue their recent run of conference success. NU has won its last three Big Ten series and nine of its last 14 games. Stevens’ squad had an encouraging split of its doubleheader Wednesday against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, taking the nightcap behind a perfect six-inning performance by freshman Jack Havey.
Stevens said the team’s ability to respond positively after losing the first game 9-0 epitomized one of his favorite traits of this team.
“We always talk about getting back on that horse, getting back on track,” Stevens said. “If there’s one word I would use to describe this team it would be ‘perseverance.'”
So far, the Illini have been hard to read in their Big Ten campaign. They have played the two best teams in the conference, losing four of six, and the two worst, winning three of six. Casey McMurray leads Illinois on offense, batting .367 with five home runs, two more than any NU player.
The two teams are remarkably similar statistically. The Illini’s pitching staff has posted a 6.02 ERA, good for seventh in the conference and ranking just behind the sixth-place Cats. At the plate, Illinois’ team batting average of .296 is four points lower than NU’s seventh-place number.
The Cats have noticed their improvement in two key areas of the game: relief pitching and clutch hitting. Havey came out of the bullpen to pitch six perfect innings Wednesday and said the relievers have worked to become a valuable asset to the team.
“We’re going out there and trying our hardest every game,” Havey said. “We’re thinking about doing well every time, thinking positive. So far, the results have been good.”
Sophomore Trevor Stevens noted the Cats have also done a better job of hitting with runners in scoring position, which he attributes to the confidence and comfort at the plate that come with success.
“Guys are aware of (hitting in clutch situations),” he said. “We’re just a lot more comfortable and putting the bat on the ball. And that’s been working.”[email protected]
