As coach Ben Greenspan watched No. 5 Georgia Tech pummel his Northwestern pitchers all weekend, he was disappointed. 

He wasn’t unhappy just because they were losing, though. After all, the Yellow Jackets (11-1, 0-0 ACC) are arguably the country’s best offensive team and were playing at their home ballpark with a short right field wall, which he said is designed well for their pull-hitting lefties and for righties capable of hitting opposite-way home runs. 

Greenspan was frustrated because the contests weren’t even close past the early innings. Across the three-game series, the Wildcats (5-5, 0-0 Big Ten) were outscored 44-12 as they gave up 45 hits and 10 home runs, while scoring just three of 12 runs beyond the first two innings.

As NU heads into its final stretch of nonconference games before starting conference play March 13 against USC, the third-year coach emphasized that the team needs to execute better to defeat high-quality opponents.

“We need to get better,” Greenspan said Monday. “That’s a really good team, and they were able to expose some things in some areas that we need to improve on.”

The ’Cats’ pitching staff couldn’t contain the lethal Georgia Tech offense that includes three early-round MLB Draft prospects, surrendering runs in 15 of 21 innings during the series.

Friday’s starter, graduate student right-hander Sam Hliboki, managed to make it through just 11 hitters as he allowed nine earned runs, seven hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. Through three starts against Rice, Cornell and Georgia Tech, he has given up at least four earned runs in each game and his season ERA rose to a high of 15.19 following the Yellow Jackets loss.

Greenspan said Hliboki excelled in the weeks leading up to the season as he carved up NU’s bats in practice, but after the pitcher’s recent subpar performances, he didn’t rule out making a change to the starting pitching order. He said he intended to meet with his staff Monday afternoon to analyze the recent series and determine the best matchups for the upcoming weekend.

But Greenspan also expressed confidence that Hliboki will pitch “a lot of innings” this season. 

“We know he’s good,” Greenspan said. “We believe in him. He has an unbelievable process, but he’s gotten knocked around.”

Graduate student left-hander Ryan Weaver and junior right-hander Garrett Shearer, who started Saturday and Sunday, didn’t fare much better, allowing a combined 10 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Even when NU’s pitching staff momentarily stymied the Yellow Jackets, as sophomore utility player Carter Danz had Saturday seemed to do when he pitched to projected first-rounder Drew Burress, they seemed to find a way to pile on runs.

In that seventh-inning at-bat, Danz worked himself into a 2-2 count with a pair of 94-and-93 mph cutters, one jamming Burress. But on the third cutter, Burress turned on the ball, pulling it through the left side of the infield for a single to lead off an inning that resulted in the end of a 13-3 run-rule loss.

Danz, who started in left field Friday before coming in as a reliever the next day, has batted .333 in nine plate appearances this season, including a 1-for-3 afternoon against Georgia Tech. He offers a different profile as a left-handed batter to many of the right-handed hitters near the bottom of NU’s lineup, including left fielder and sophomore Logan de Groot.

Greenspan said he has also enjoyed Danz’s development on the mound, despite having suffered a knock that he has been working his way back from. In his first pitching appearance this season Saturday, Danz allowed one earned run in 2/3 of an inning.

“Carter (is) obviously very talented, and (has) a ton of upside on both sides of the ball,” Greenspan said. “I think he’s going to have an impact on both sides of the ball for us.”

At the plate, Greenspan said the ’Cats were never going to emerge victorious if they weren’t able to find consistency from their bats against Georgia Tech’s high-powered offense.

NU struggled to generate walks, recording just eight in the three-game series, a stark change from an average of 6.7 per game in their first seven games. But Greenspan said that dip was partially because the Yellow Jackets were able to pitch with more freedom after securing early advantages.

“It wasn’t concerning that we didn’t walk as much,” Greenspan said. “That’s a top-five team in the country with an older pitching staff and some guys that have had a lot of success in some other places. They’re good, and they pitch with the lead.” 

Junior right fielder Jackson Freeman, junior shortstop Ryan Kucherak and senior center fielder Jack Lausch had the few standout performances from the weekend, going a combined 14-for-34.

Freeman built off a hot start to the year, maintaining a batting average well over .400 and an OPS above 1.200. Greenspan said Freeman has found his form as he has returned to hitting across the field, a trait he utilized well two years ago as a freshman. 

Kucherak — who came into the series batting .207 without an extra-base hit after setting the program’s single-season home run record with 18 homers last season — hit his first home run of the year in the first inning of Friday’s game to start a weekend in which he recorded three extra-base hits.

Greenspan said Kucherak was also able to use the entire field with his at-bats, but he was not worried about the slow start, as just a season ago, the LSU transfer had only one homer in the first 17 games before going on to break NU’s record. 

“(Kucherak is) key to our offense, hitting up there near the top,” Greenspan said. “We need him to be on base a ton. We need him to drive guys in. So breaking through and doing it against better pitching will help him, but it’ll also help us.”

With a trio of games at U.S. Bank Stadium against South Dakota State, Omaha and UNLV, and a home opener against UIC before starting conference play, Greenspan wants his team to learn from the tough weekend in Atlanta. 

Execution, across the field, must be better, he said. And top-quality teams punish those who fail to do that, as Georgia Tech showed NU.

“I believe in our players, our program, you know, the direction we’re headed,” Greenspan said. “I don’t think one weekend will define us — we won’t let it define us. But we also need to get better.” 

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