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: Pair of pitchers bright spot in weekend

In an otherwise dim weekend in Northwestern’s fourth Big Ten series loss, the Wildcats saw a gleaming bright spot in the last five innings of Sunday’s game against Illinois.

After the Illini hit NU into an early hole, scoring eight runs in the first four innings, Illinois was held to one run through the last five. Pitchers Francis Brooke and Kyle Ruchim carried the Cats through those final frames and sent a message that resonated throughout the Big Ten: NU’s struggling rotation could look a lot scarier next weekend at Indiana.

For avid Cats fans, Brooke’s name sounds quite familiar – that’s because “Franchise” was NU’s ace heading into the season. But Brooke hadn’t pitched since surrendering five runs in a one-inning start at Ohio State nearly a month ago. On Sunday the righty threw 33 pitches in two innings of relief, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out two.

After weeks of fans’ wondering what was ailing Brooke and coach Paul Stevens’s not disclosing the injury, Brooke finally divulged the reason for his prolonged absence.

“It’s a little bit of a combination of tendonitis and a little bit of damage inside my shoulder, just basically overuse,” Brooke said. “It caught up with me a little bit.”

The junior pitched 157.2 innings combined through last season, his summer stint with Youse’s Orioles in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League and this season before his injury.

As he was recovering from the arm injury, Brooke could often be seen in sweatpants and a sweatshirt in the rows behind home plate, charting pitches with fellow junior Zach Morton, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.

But Brooke was back Sunday, and he said he feels “much better now.” Brooke’s fastball velocity sat close to where it normally does, in the upper 80s, and he hit 87 mph on several occasions.

Though Brooke was grinning from ear to ear after his long-anticipated reunion with the mound, the Washington, D.C. native said he’s gotten rusty in his time off and will need to work to regain his precise command.

“I need to get my sharpness back,” Brooke said. “I lost a little bit of that. Not pitching for a while, you lose a little bit of your command and a little bit of the break on your pitches. I just need to get that back.”

After Brooke’s two innings, freshman do-it-all Ruchim took the mound for the last three innings, allowing one run on two hits and striking out five.

“Ruchim’s an athlete,” junior right fielder Chris Kontos said. “You put him somewhere, he’ll play the position well. He’s very valuable, especially when you’re making all these switches everywhere. If you can play someone eight spots in the lineup, it really helps out a team. It makes you more versatile. It helps you out offensively and defensively. If someone needs a pinch hit, then he’ll go in for them defensively. Or if we need a defensive replacement, he can go fill that spot.”

Ruchim is hitting .233 on the season and has made his defensive presence known by impressing at three positions – shortstop, second base and center field, the latter two of which he played in Sunday’s game. As Kontos said, the freshman’s specialty is being able to provide a potent fill-in at just about any position left open by pinch-hitting situations or otherwise.

But the place Mr. Versatility could find himself once each weekend might not be in the grass, but on the dirt in the center of the diamond, as a starter. Though Ruchim had pitched just nine innings in seven appearances before Sunday, when asked if Ruchim could fill a rotation spot, Stevens said with a nod, “You may see a lot more of him.”

With sophomore Luke Farrell anchoring the rotation, there seems to be one picture-perfect situation that could round out the starting staff: Insert the upstart Ruchim, who throws a fastball in the low 90s, and the dependable, efficient Brooke into the weekend mix.

“I need to get Brooke back in the rotation,” said Stevens, who knows pitching will be crucial in the Cats’ three remaining Big Ten series.

But with Brooke just coming back from a month-long injury and with only two innings under his belt this weekend, is there a chance fans could see his return to the rotation as early as next weekend at Indiana?

“You very well might,” Stevens said with a hopeful smile.

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Baseball: Pair of pitchers bright spot in weekend