Baseball

Northwestern is 4-14 in the Big Ten this year, so 14 times Leo Kaplan noticed something missing. The ease in which big hits came in the later innings last season hadn’t translated, the sophomore outfielder said.

But sophomore second baseman Alex Erro said the Wildcats (14-25) are now showing the consistency they need to continue their success in this weekend’s series at Purdue (24-16, 10-4 Big Ten).

“Finishing out the year strong after a slow start will probably say a lot about us,” he said. “At this point, we’re just fighting for the pride of the program.”

He said that fight was more difficult earlier in the season, when the Cats lost 11 out of 12 games and couldn’t come up with any momentum changing at-bats.

Though the team lost 26-15 against Western Michigan in a strange midweek game Wednesday, NU has won five of its last six and Erro said the team feels positive momentum. Coach Spencer Allen said he’s been excited to see batters at the bottom of the lineup and relievers play with more confidence than they had been.

“That’s what teams that are playing good … continue to do,” he said. “You get some big holds from certain guys coming out there to pitch and then closing it down there in the ninth. That’s what we need.”

Entering last week’s game against Illinois-Chicago, NU hadn’t won a 1-run game all season, but against the Flames and Penn State over the weekend, the Cats won three games by that margin. In the series opener against the Nittany Lions, sophomore infielder Charlie Maxwell’s triple in the top of the ninth capped one of the most exciting wins of the season.

“The team is confident after Penn State and that little winning streak we went on,” Kaplan said. “This season hasn’t been what I think any of us envisioned to be after last year … That sweep was important to get.”

Kaplan said Tuesday’s 9-7 win against Chicago State felt important, even against a non-conference opponent in a low-tier conference. When the teams played in March, NU had an early 5-1 lead but lost 8-7 after senior outfielder Jacob Vanitvelt’s walkoff single in the ninth.

“We expect to play against Chicago State and beat them by a lot of runs every time we play them,” Kaplan said. “And I think earlier in the season it was pretty shocking to all of us.”

So after he hit a homer to tie the game in the seventh in Tuesday’s win, Kaplan said he felt better about this team, one that he hopes can look more like last year’s for the next two weeks.

“I want to make sure we finish this thing,” Allen said. “We (need to) play hard and continue to learn and help with the evolution of the program.”

Ryan Wangman contributed reporting.

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Twitter: @2021_Charlie