In just three days, Northwestern baseball will begin a crucial three-game series against No. 38 Ohio State. But first, the Wildcats face two non-conference games against Chicago State and Western Michigan that would be easy to overlook.
NU (19-17) passed the first of those tests on Tuesday by defeating Chicago State (6-31) 3-1 at Rocky Miller Park. Five pitchers saw the mound, but the starter, freshman Reed Mason, came away with the victory. Although the competition didn’t match up with the Big Ten opponents that the 'Cats see regularly, head coach Paul Stevens was proud of the way his team handled the swirling wind.
“Well, there’s a twenty-some mile per hour wind blowing in here, so I don’t care if you’re Ohio State, you’re Illinois, the '27 Yankees or you’re Chicago State,” Stevens said. “You put the ball in play, you got a chance to score runs.”
Though the Wildcats eventually acclimated, they didn’t respond well to the weather early on. The second inning brought a wild pitch and three errors, the last of which allowed freshman William Munoz to score for the Cougars.
Northwestern shored up the defense from that point on, and the offense followed suit. Three hits led to three NU runs in the fourth, with a little help from a Chicago State error. The Wildcat bats had struggled as of late, so Stevens was happy to see them taking advantage of opportunities.
“I was very pleased with people making plays and finding a way to put the bat on the ball when we have people in scoring position,” Stevens said. “We had a tough time doing that all weekend where we just couldn’t get that big hit to find a way to score those guys. We did a little bit of a better job today.”
After the inning was over, the 'Cats brought junior Jack Quigley to the mound, their first of four pitching changes. He and fellow juniors Dan Tyson, Jack Livingston, and Kyle Ruchim allowed just two hits combined in the final five innings to seal the game.
The tune-up game was a success, but Northwestern still has more business to take care of before the Buckeyes. Western Michigan comes to town Wednesday to take on the Widcats at Rocky Miller Park.