Taking years off from playing baseball inevitably comes with some rust, but junior infielder Jack Lausch seems to have found his groove late in the season.
Lausch couldn’t escape a slow start to the season, notching a .195 batting average over his first 23 games. But during Northwestern’s 12-4 victory over Valparaiso on Tuesday, he went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, including one home run and a double.
Lausch played at an elite level in high school, batting .386 his senior year. A former top 250 MLB prospect according to Baseball America who was once committed to Notre Dame, Lausch is finally finding his form.
“I think it’s a little bit of time and getting more reps and the great coaching,” Lausch said. “It’s all kind of starting to come together.”
On top of his .263 batting average, Lausch has five home runs on the year, but it took him until March 30 to hit his first. Now, Lausch has hit two home runs in as many games. In 11 games since April 25, Lausch is batting .394.
Tuesday’s home run stands out among the Wildcats’ three home runs on the day, though, as it was NU’s 67th of the season, marking a new program record.
“That’s pretty special,” Lausch said of his record breaking home run. “There’s been a lot of guys here who have had really good years home run wise. … I think as a team, that’s something that’s really special, and we’re really proud of that.”
Balancing football and baseball can be a difficult environment to thrive in. The dual-sport athlete played in 10 games as the starting quarterback for the football team last season, throwing for 1,714 yards and seven touchdowns.
Lausch, though, has found ways to improve on the diamond, having bounced back from the sub-.200 batting average he had at one point in the season. The Chicago native also recorded strikeouts in each of his first 18 games, but has since become more disciplined.
“It felt like he has really controlled the zone well the last couple weeks,” coach Ben Greenspan said. “If you see his last 10 games, more walks than strikeouts, which is significant growth for him coming off the first 30-something games.”
Lauch’s ability to stay hot at the plate will be key to the Wildcats’ crucial final conference series of the season against No. 14 UCLA this weekend in Los Angeles. NU currently sits 13th in the Big Ten standings, one spot shy of cracking the 12-team Big Ten Tournament.
As the season comes to a close, Lausch looked back fondly on his experience stepping up to the plate for the first time since high school.
“I’ve loved it,” said Lausch. “Getting to know these guys and these coaches has been one of the coolest experiences that I’ve had in a long time. And getting back into the game — it’s just been so fun.”
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