Foggy clouds on a misty Tuesday afternoon seemed to engulf Northwestern’s heads, as they tied UIC 3-3 due to darkness despite leading 3-2 in the top of the ninth inning.
“I’m disappointed that we tied that game, to be honest,” coach Ben Greenspan said.
The Wildcats (6-7-1, 0-0 Big Ten) nearly had the over three-and-a-half hour game turn even worse, as they faced a bases-loaded situation with just one out in the top of the ninth inning before sophomore left-hander Alex Grant overcame his early-inning struggles and saved the game.
In just his second outing of the season, Grant walked second baseman Colin Husko and, after a long review, hit first baseman Will Flanigan with a pitch. But the reliever recovered by forcing groundouts in his next two at-bats to close out the inning tied 3-3.
Greenspan, in his third year as NU’s coach, said it was “good” for Grant to recover the way he did, ensuring the game was still competitive despite offensive struggles. The ’Cats couldn’t convert with runners on base, hitting just .083 with any runners on, and going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
NU also left eight runners on base, though they were outmatched by the Flames (4-10-1, 0-0 MVC), leaving 18 runners on base.
The ’Cats had defensive successes in the later innings because of Greenspan’s decision to throw nine pitchers out on the mound across the nine innings, with no hurler completing two innings.
For Greenspan, being able to take out pitchers when they struggled was a key advantage he utilized, especially in dangerous situations with runners in scoring position.
“The hope was that a guy could come in for an inning and then hopefully go out and get three outs.” Greenspan said, “But I felt like a lot of the guys that finished somebody else’s inning had trouble getting through their second ones. I’m proud of the way some of the guys stranded inherited runners.”
NU’s nine pitchers struggled with control throughout the game, throwing strikes just 53% of the time, compared to UIC’s 66% mark. The ’Cats’ pitching staff also struggled to get out of innings, averaging 21.78 pitches per inning, while the Flames averaged 16.3, a key difference in the close game.
The issues with control came to a head in the top of the eighth inning, when freshman left-hander Dominic DeLoreto threw the only two pitches freshman catcher Jay Slater couldn’t handle. One advanced runners to second and third and the second wild pitch brought Husko home to narrow NU’s lead to one.
After building multiple two-run leads throughout the game, the bats for the ’Cats went dry when it mattered most, with NU landing one runner successfully on base over the final two innings. The game ended when junior shortstop Ryan Kucherak, who set the program single-season record last year with 18 home runs, got too aggressive on the basepaths and tried to stretch a single into a double before being tagged out at second.
A tie meant the all-around heroics of junior outfielder Griffin Mills didn’t have the impact they could have. In the top of the first inning, the Morristown, N.J. native made two putouts, with the second one stranding runners on the corners. Mills added impact offensively by smashing his first home run of the season and just his third of his three-year career.
“He’s been in and out of the lineup a little bit, and so I’m happy for him that he gets the opportunity today and makes a major impact,” Greenspan said.
Greenspan’s crew returns to the diamond for a weekend series at Miller Park against USC to open Big Ten play.
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