Baseball

After senior catcher Jack Claeys equalized Sunday’s game against Michigan at 3 p.m with a solo shot over Rocky and Berenice Miller Park’s right field wall in the sixth inning, Northwestern loaded the bases with one out but failed to score.

Two innings later, junior first baseman Willie Bourbon doubled to lead off the inning but was left stranded there with the score still tied.

A half inning later, in the top of the ninth, the Wolverines (19-11, 6-0 Big Ten) scored four runs to put the game in the bag and secure a series sweep of the Wildcats (8-17, 1-8).

“When we have an opportunity to throw a knockout punch in the sixth, seventh and eighth, we have to do that,” coach Spencer Allen said. “It puts too much pressure on the pitchers. We pitched good enough. That game is different if we have a lead.”

NU had opened the scoring in the third when sophomore second baseman Alex Erro singled home junior shortstop Jack Dunn, who walked and stole second base. One inning later, the Cats manufactured another run when Bourbon scored on a grounder to second from freshman outfielder Casey O’Laughlin.

After getting a run back in the fifth, the Wolverines took the lead in the sixth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ako Thomas hit a ground ball that got through Erro at second and scored two runs.

Sunday’s defeat came after Michigan, who came into this weekend riding a 12-game win streak, shut out the Cats twice on Saturday by scores of 6-0 and 3-0.

NU managed only three hits — two singles from sophomore outfielder Leo Kaplan in game one and a single from Bourbon in game two — across Saturday’s 18 innings and never had a runner advance past second base.

“The blame is on us for this weekend,” Dunn said. “Hopefully we stop that moving forward.”

The Wolverines’ starters on Saturday, Tommy Henry and Ben Dragani, were dominant. Henry, who improved to 5-0 on the season, struck out nine batters across six innings. Dragani struck out five and improved his Big Ten-best ERA to 1.13.

Apart from a four-run fifth inning, freshman pitcher Quinn Lavelle was solid for the Cats in game one, as was sophomore Hank Christie in game two. Lavelle went five innings with four strikeouts while Christie threw six innings, giving up only six hits and one earned run while surrendering no walks.

“As far as the first couple games, I thought that (our pitchers) really filled the zone, they really could throw all of their pitches for strikes,” Bourbon said. “They controlled the game; they kept us in the game for the most part. Our offense didn’t click.”

Freshman pitcher Jack Pagliarini also threw well in his start on Sunday, striking out eight Wolverines and giving up only two hits in 4.1 innings of work.

Clutch hitting has been an Achilles’ heel for NU all season. With runners in scoring position, the Cats had only one hit this weekend — Erro’s RBI single on Sunday — in 21 plate appearances. Heading into the weekend, the team had a batting average of .256 with runners in scoring position, compared to .303 for its opponents.

Bourbon and Dunn said the team needs to do better when given scoring opportunities. Allen said if the team puts itself in opportune situations with fewer than two outs, where outs can also score runs, the hits will come.

“We have struggled all year with it,” Allen said. “There is no magic pill for it. You just have to continue to work and grind good at-bats.”

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