Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Baseball: Wildcats boiled in Big Ten Tournament’s second round

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After the first inning of Northwestern’s first-round matchup against Indiana on Wednesday, junior lefty Eric Jokisch and the Wildcats found themselves in an early 4-0 hole. Thursday looked hopeful for NU against Purdue in the first game of the losers’ bracket when sophomore righty Francis Brooke hurled a quick six-pitch inning, inducing two groundouts, one for an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Eight innings later, the Cats were the first team eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament after an 11-1 loss at the hands of the Boilermakers’ dominating righty Matt Bischoff, who pitched a complete-game.

After Brooke’s impressive first frame, he took the mound in the second and allowed a Drew Madia leadoff double to left, immediately followed by a Kevin Plawecki RBI double to right. Brooke then got Barrett Arthur to fly out to right fielder Chris Kontos before allowing two base hits, a fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt and another base hit to score three more runs. Brooke induced centerfielder Jonathan Lilly to pop into a 6-4 double play to end the righty’s 20-pitch inning. That was the end of the ballgame for Brooke.

“(Brooke’s) done a great job for us all year, but we have a pretty good sense of what his physical capabilities are,” coach Paul Stevens said. “At that point, he just didn’t have that same Francis Brooke look to him.”

Senior lefty David Jensen took the mound for the Cats, pitching 2.1 innings of relief, allowing three runs-only one earned-due to a three-error fifth inning. Then sophomore righty Michael Jahns came out of the pen for NU, pitching 1.2 innings and allowing two runs. After an Alex Seyferth RBI single in the top of the sixth, the Cats went into the bottom half down 7-1. Senior lefty Joe Muraski came in and pitched a shut-out inning before NU turned on the faucet, spilling nearly its entire bullpen-including freshmen Luke Farrell and Jack Havey, senior Steve Sanders and sophomore Quentin Williams-onto the mound to get their feet wet before the Cats’ tourney time was up. By the end of NU’s short tournament run, every single player on the roster saw action, whether on the mound or at the plate.

“Every person contributed to get us here,” Stevens said. “And I felt that it was important for me to get every person an opportunity to see what a tremendous experience it is to get out there between those white lines.”

With the Boilermakers totaling 15 hits in their lengthy battle against the Cats’ eight pitchers, NU put up 10 hits of its own, including a two-out double by senior catcher Chad Noble in the seventh.

“(The Cats) did a good job of scattering hits,” Purdue coach Doug Schreiber said. “They got 10 hits off (Bischoff), but very seldom was it a lead-off hit. It was usually with one out and a little bit easier to defend that way.”

In nearly identical fashion to Wednesday’s loss against Indiana, NU couldn’t capitalize on its pile of hits. Bischoff handled the Cats, striking out eight and walking just two. Bischoff said he has always managed to pitch well against NU. This time, he said it came down to situational hitting.

“They’re a good hitting team, one through nine,” Bischoff said. “They didn’t have a whole lot of chances to take advantage of and make great plays, and we did.”

Stevens said the reason his team couldn’t make those plays was its lack of attention to getting “the little things done” and Purdue’s ability to do so.

“It just kind of reminds me of back when I was younger,” the skipper said. “I can sit there and pick up all the big things in my room and shove all the little things underneath the bed, but it would still get found. It’s taking care of the little things that gives you that ability to be successful.”

After coming out of their opening weekend in Rock Hill, S.C., losing by a combined 49 runs, who would have thought the Cats could make a run for the Big Ten title?

The Cats did.

“They have faith in themselves,” Stevens said. “They’ve believed in themselves and each other, and they never gave in or gave up (in) any way, shape or form, no matter what anybody else was saying about them. … They had the ability, the belief to take the ordinary and do some extraordinary things this year.”[email protected]

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Baseball: Wildcats boiled in Big Ten Tournament’s second round