Northwestern’s offense had a slow start to its weekend series against Indiana, losing big at Wrigley Field on Friday before flipping a switch at Miller Park and stealing the series with back-to-back wins Saturday and Sunday.
The Wildcats (19-25-1, 7-17 Big Ten) have struggled to hit the ball over the last few weeks, averaging two runs per game over their last nine conference games entering the series. The trend continued Friday in the 9-2 defeat against the Hoosiers (21-27, 7-17 Big Ten).
Early on, NU continued to be snakebitten offensively, mustering four hits in the first six innings against Indiana starter Tony Neubeck. Every time a ’Cat stepped up to bat, the outcome appeared to be predetermined.
For Neubeck, attacking the plate was the goal from the beginning.
“I knew that the field was a big field, so I let my defense play behind me, and it worked out to my advantage,” Neubeck said postgame Friday.
The hitting depth that has been so strong this season completely evaporated, leaving NU unable to sustain the offensive consistency needed to pull off a win against the Hoosiers. Indiana is one of the teams the ’Cats are battling with for the final few spots in the conference tournament.
Indiana coach Jeff Mercer said Neubeck’s four-seam fastball was an important component in the team’s success.
“They hit some balls well, but they hit them into the air,” Mercer said. “They couldn’t stay on top.”
Consistency has been a persistent struggle for NU this season, as the ’Cats have been unable to match the offensive potential they showed in their series win over Michigan State.
In the final two games against the Spartans, NU scored 18 runs, mashing six home runs in the process. In the three conference series following Michigan State, the ’Cats hit just five balls over the fence.
Home run hitting is something NU prides itself on, as it leads the Big Ten in players with more than six home runs. Seven ’Cats have reached this mark, while just 58 players across the other 16 teams have kept up the pace.
On Friday at Wrigley Field, no one on either team went yard, but Indiana produced offensively in ways that NU couldn’t match. The Hoosiers took advantage with runners in scoring position, hitting 6-for-17, while NU went just 1-for-7.
Despite the early deficit, coach Ben Greenspan said his team kept the game competitive.
“I thought for seven innings, we were right there on Friday,” Greenspan said. “We didn’t finish the game, though.”
As the contest progressed, the offensive struggles persisted for the ’Cats. Neubeck capitalized on his team’s ever-increasing lead, continuing to use his four-seamer to put pressure on NU.
“It makes it easy to attack, knowing that one swing off the bat can’t tie the game up,” Neubeck said. “That’s huge.”
The southpaw’s 12th start of the season was his third outing where he didn’t give up a single run.
After Neubeck exited, the ’Cats had a short offensive revival, driving in two runs off Indiana reliever Jacob Vogel. Both runs came on one swing — a single by graduate student second baseman Noah Ruiz that brought home senior third baseman Owen McElfatrick and junior shortstop Ryan Kucherak. It seemed as though NU had a chance at the second ’Cats comeback at the Friendly Confines this school year, after football took down Minnesota 38-35 despite trailing by 15 in the third quarter.
Instead, Hoosier reliever Reagan Rivera came in and cut NU’s dreams short, striking out six of the seven batters he faced. Nearly the entire ’Cats lineup took a swing, but only Kucherak heard the crack of the bat before lining out to left field.
“For Reagan to come in and give us two and a third when they were threatening in a big or pivotal inning was huge,” Mercer said.
On Saturday and Sunday, however, it was NU that attacked, outscoring Indiana 16-10 over the remainder of the series. The offense that couldn’t get a hit off of Rivera sent Hoosiers left-hander Conner Linn packing after one inning Sunday, and Indiana reliever Gavin Seebold immediately gave up two home runs that same inning.
Greenspan said he wishes the ’Cats played better at Wrigley on Friday, but that he is proud of the team’s performance the rest of the weekend.
“Some guys on the mound really stepped up for us the last couple of days,” Greenspan said.
The pitching staff responded to a nine-run outing Saturday, including four earned runs in one inning by sophomore reliever Tommy Bridges and another five by graduate student starter Ryan Weaver in five innings, by not having a single pitcher with a game ERA above 4.5.
Senior center fielder Jack Lausch said he hopes the team can take the offensive success it had later in the series and use it to build momentum for the closing stretch.
“The biggest thing is when we play really hard, have a lot of fun and play with some swag, there’s a lot of great things we could do,” Lausch said. “I’m really excited to carry that in as a team the next couple weeks.”
Email: [email protected]
X: @YoniZacks
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Baseball: Northwestern’s bats sputter in 9-2 loss to Indiana at Wrigley Field
— Jack Counsell draws inspiration from a childhood around professional baseball
— Baseball: McElfatrick climbs all-time home run ranks in 10-8 win over Milwaukee
