Ladies, gentlemen and Northwestern fans, it’s time to exhale.

After four straight losses — giving up at least eight runs in each — the Wildcats (6-25, 3-6 Big Ten) have found the win column once again, defeating Northern Illinois (7-26, 4-10 MAC) 16-5 Tuesday. The 11-run victory for NU completes the two-game season sweep over the Huskies, whom they downed 15-11 about three weeks ago.

In a way, the road game win ties together happiness and disappointment. On one hand, the Cats finally put the pieces together; but, a third of the program’s wins now come from a team arguably in the same sunken place record wise.

Still, it’s important to focus on the positives, not the negatives, especially after a dominant win. It may be too soon, but here’s what a successful afternoon meeting means for coach Jim Foster’s squad for the rest of the season:

1. That 3-4 hitting combination? Yeah, don’t change it.

Most teams put their best hitters, mixing in power and contact, into the three and four holes of their lineup for numerous reasons. It allows for the biggest bats to make an impact in the team’s first round of at-bats. If the first, second or both batters get on base, the chances of scoring are usually at their highest.

For NU, that’s been team captain senior infielder/outfielder Stephen Hrustich and sophomore catcher/infielder Alex Calarco. Against NIU on Tuesday, the “Georgia Peach” went 3-6 with two doubles, a home run and two RBIs of his own. Meanwhile, Calarco nearly echoed Hrustich’s statline by going 4-6 at the plate, ripping two doubles, a home run and three RBIs.

The dynamic duo has shown the most consistency at the plate for the Cats, flexing the best batting averages on the team — Hrustich at .344 and Calarco hitting .319. Not to mention, out of the six batters that have had 100 or more at-bats, the one with the next best average is graduate outfielder Griffin Arnone (.242), who usually mans the one-hole.

It’s clear that the offense lives and dies by the swings of Hrustich and Calarco, emphasizing why they need to continue finding gaps in the defense in hopes that the other bats throughout the lineup come alive eventually.

2. Much needed momentum could be wake-up call

With the competition only getting stronger as the plot thickens, the Cats will need to up their game if they want a chance at the Big Ten Tournament.

Luckily, the 11-run victory over NIU on Tuesday couldn’t have come at a better time. NU entered the contest in Dekalb, Illinois, on a four-game losing streak, nowhere near the win column. However, with the win, as Foster also expressed after the team’s series win over Illinois a few weeks ago, the team showed its identity — strong pitching, defense and putting pressure on the opponent.

Of course, the Tuesday pitching performance was outshined by the Cats’ second-highest run total of the season, but the pitching unit was better than the first time the two groups met: NU gave up just five runs instead of 11. Additionally, only one error was recorded.

It is way too early to give a prediction on how the rest of the season will play out, but hopefully this win will get NU’s motor going.

3. Big Ten record > overall record

With three weeks remaining in last season’s schedule, the Cats were on their way to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2017. NU held the sixth-best conference record, and with a favorable rest-of-the season schedule, it just needed to continue on the yellow brick road to lock up its top-eight seeding.

Sadly, NU missed the trip to Omaha, Nebraska, once again, dropping out of its position by finishing 3-6 in their last nine games.

This time around, the Cats still have a chance — even with a dismal overall record. Currently, NU is tied for 10th in the Big Ten, which isn’t ideal, but with five series remaining in the season, a lot can happen by then. At this point in the season, it’s impossible for the Cats to finish .500 with 19 contests remaining. But it doesn’t mean the conference tournament is out of the picture.

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