When asked how he would describe this series win over Michigan in one word, Northwestern head baseball coach Paul Stevens turned the tables and asked what the reporter’s answer would be. His response?
“Monumental.”
There was no argument from Stevens, as his Wildcats (17-14, 6-9 Big Ten) came from behind to take the best-of-three series with a 3-2 extra-inning victory over Michigan (22-16, 8-4) at Rocky Miller Park Sunday.
After senior Zach Morton pitched seven innings and allowed two runs, junior Kyle Ruchim came in and sealed the victory by allowing only two hits in the final three innings.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, senior first baseman Jack Havey was at a full count. He hit a bouncer right into the glove of Michigan pitcher Jacob Cronenworth, but he bobbled and dropped it, allowing sophomore center fielder Walker Moses to slide in for the game-winning run.
“One out, bases loaded, all you’re trying to do there is put something in play, put the pressure on them,” Havey said. “He’d been throwing his slider effectively, but I knew with bases loaded, he’d be scared to go to it too much.”
Early on, it looked as though NU wouldn’t even be heading into extra innings. Michigan built a 2-0 lead after three innings off of crafty base running, and pitcher Logan McAnallen was shutting down the 'Cats.
But in the eighth, the Wolverines made the switch to Cronenworth, and Northwestern found its rhythm. With a man on second and third, Morton hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one, and an error by the shortstop on the next play allowed the tying run.
After the game, Havey shared his main motivation in finishing off the comeback victory.
“10th inning, cold day, double-header...we all wanted to go.”
It was as simple as that. It was an eventful weekend, starting with the first game of the series being postponed due to the wet playing surface. As a result, they opened up at historic Wrigley Field, where senior Luke Farrell led them to a 6-0 win in front of a crowd of over 4,000.
Coming into today, the 'Cats were given a tall task in the first game of the doubleheader, and they couldn’t answer. Freshman phenom Evan Hill allowed just four hits in seven innings and led the Wolverines to a 5-0 victory.
The offense continued to struggle in the early stages of the final game, but the Wildcats regrouped and grabbed the thrilling win. Stevens gave all the credit to his players, who didn’t let previous innings dictate their confidence level.
“At the end of the day, momentum changes, and momentum changed a couple times in this ballgame,” he said. “I think that our kids just did a phenomenal job of just staying with it, not getting too emotionally high and too emotionally low when things didn’t go right.
“The thing that I love about these guys? Just because they’re down, don’t turn your back on them. They will come back up and they’ll find a way to just put you in a stranglehold and make you understand, you are in a fight.”
Next up for the Wildcats is a home matchup against Northern Illinois on Tuesday.