There were a lot of positives this week at the old ball yard.
The Northwestern Wildcats (12-20, 2-7 B1G) entered this weekend coming off an 18-5 rout at the hands of UIC, their tenth straight loss since beating McNeese during a series in late March. It’s safe to say that it has been a rough stretch for Northwestern baseball in recent weeks, but the team got back in the win column this weekend at home against conference rival Maryland (23-14, 5-7 B1G).
In game one, the ‘Cats got down early and had to scrap their way back. Northwestern starter Nolan Morr went just 1.1 innings before being replaced by Matt McClure. Between the two, they allowed four unanswered runs to allow Maryland to jump out to a 4-0 lead by the fourth inning.
That’s when NU responded, though. First baseman Trent Liolios broke the ice with a two-run bomb, driving in Bennett Markinson and cutting the Terp lead in half. Maryland went up 5-2 in the fifth, but it was all Wildcats from there on out.
Jackson Freeman launched a home run to make it 5-3 in the sixth before eighth inning RBIs from Vince Bianchina and Liolios tied the ballgame. Tony Livermore won it for the ‘Cats in the bottom of the tenth, walking off Maryland 6-5 on an RBI single into left.
Garrett Shearer came on to pitch in relief for the ‘Cats in the middle of the seventh and was lights out, allowing no runs and striking out three to help break the losing streak.
Northwestern had Jack Dyke on the mound for game two of the series on Saturday. He squared off against Logan Koester of Maryland as the Wildcats looked to secure a series win.
The ‘Cats got off to a hot start at the plate, knocking in a run in each of the first two innings to lead it 2-0 right off the rip. Dyke was perfect for Northwestern, not allowing a single run before being replaced in the fourth by Kyle Potthoff. Potthoff would pitch the remainder of the contest.
In the fourth, Northwestern DH Lorenzo Rios doubled to score two and make it 4-0. But it was the fifth inning that sealed the deal for the ‘Cats. They scored SEVEN runs in the fifth behind errors, tons of singles and a timely hit by pitch. Maryland got one back in the ninth, but Northwestern cruised to an 11-1 victory and a series win.
Going for the sweep on Sunday, the ‘Cats deployed Nolan Morr again to start the game. He struggled mightily, allowing three runs in an inning and a third. The Terps blanked Northwestern in the early innings to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
But after some scrappy hitting in the second and a Markinson RBI double in the third, NU had evened the score at 3-3. Later in the inning, Liolios knocked in Markinson on a ground out to give the ‘Cats their first lead of the game.
Things stayed even until the top of the fifth. Luke Benneche came on in relief of Morr, and had been solid, allowing just two hits in his first 2.2 innings. Unfortunately, he allowed five hits and three runs in the fifth to give Maryland a 6-4 lead.
In the following inning, after Northwestern came up empty, Eddie Hacopian parked a two-run blast in the left field seats to double up the ‘Cats, giving Maryland an 8-4 stranglehold on the contest.
But Northwestern clawed (though crushed might be a better word) its way back. Liolios, Freeman and pinch-hitter Griffin Mills all homered to tie the score at eight by the eighth inning. The magic would stop there, though.
Northwestern managed to send the game into extra innings, but lost 9-8 after a Sam Hojnar home run gave Maryland the lead. The sweep wasn’t quite attainable, but the ‘Cats were able to take two of three from a Maryland team that’s been ahead of them record-wise all year.
NU will be back in action next weekend in Champaign to take on Illinois in a rivalry series. With the Illini on the opposite side of the Big Ten standings, the ‘Cats will have their hands full as they look to win a second consecutive series.