After the conclusion of the 2012 season, six Northwestern seniors, wearing white uniforms with purple trim, rounded the bases at Rocky Miller Park. It would be their last time rounding those bases, and indeed, it was a sight not seen very often at the Wildcats’ home ballpark this season.
“You’re always disappointed to see seniors leave,” coach Paul Stevens said. “You’ve developed them. You’ve worked with them. They start to understand things. Once they’re in a position where you don’t have to sit there and keep reiterating the same stuff because they got it and they know it, they’re gone.”
The Cats had difficulties plating runs all season long. On Saturday afternoon, NU (18-36) couldn’t score, ending its 2012 campaign with a 4-0 loss to Saint Louis University (40-15).
It seemed like Stevens just couldn’t win Saturday with his coaching decisions.
In the third inning, sophomore third baseman Nick Linne rounded third base on a grounder up the middle by redshirt junior second baseman Zach Morton. The risky move backfired on the Cats as Billikens’ center fielder Jordan Hammerman aggressively charged Morton’s ground ball and threw a bullet home to nab Linne at the plate.
In the fifth inning, Linne led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch and halted at third after senior center fielder Hamilton Wise delivered a hard grounder between the first and second basemen. Stevens’ move made sense with the top of the order coming up for NU, but Wise was caught stealing and Morton popped weakly to first to end the Cats’ rally.
“The fact of the matter is that was an opportunity that we needed to capitalize on because then it’s a 2-1 ballgame,” Stevens said.
Meanwhile, the Billikens were able to cash in for a run apiece in the second and third innings, as they recorded six hits in the first three innings against Morton. They extended their lead in the ninth as senior Michael Jahns faced five hitters and recorded just one out.
While NU was effectively stymied on Saturday, it was able to bring a few runs home on Friday, starting with Paul Snieder’s 2-RBI triple deep into the right-field gap.
After striking out looking three straight times on Tuesday against Notre Dame, Snieder was able to successfully utilize a more aggressive approach over the weekend against Saint Louis.
“I kind of told myself that anything near a strike, I’m going to swing at,” Snieder said. “Even first pitch, if I pick up a changeup or curveball first pitch pretty well, I’ll try to put a good swing on it. I try not to take too many strikes, not waste any strikes. I usually don’t swing at that first pitch, but I hit it well.”
The Cats scored their third run when sophomore shortstop Kyle Ruchim hit a groundball to third base that Grant Nelson was unable to pick up cleanly. When the Billikens third baseman came home with a throw outside of the third-base line, Snieder was able to slide right by the catcher to give NU a 3-0 lead.
Brandon Magallones would make NU’s runs stand with eight-plus innings of solid work. The freshman righthander surrendered just one earned run on four hits, striking out four and avoiding any walks to earn his seventh win of the season.
Magallones ran into trouble in the top of the ninth, but Luke Farrell came in to record the final three outs. The junior righthander ended the game with a 91 miles per hour fastball upstairs that Marco DiRoma feebly waved at.
“I had a couple days’ rest so I was able to recover,” Farrell said, “and like I said, bascially just try to throw the ball as hard as I can.”
For seniors like Snieder, who will no longer get to don the purple and white, Saturday was a sentimental occasion.
“It was kind of sad that I’m not going to be able to play any more,” Snieder said. “That’s how life is. You go through one phase and then you move on and go to the next phase, so we’ll see what my next phase has in store for me.”
