Northwestern University Athletics
1999 Baseball Recap
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
After losing four in a row at eventual conference champ Ohio State to open the Big Ten season, the Wildcats went on a tear, winning three of four at home against 1998 Big Ten champion Illinois. The Wildcats dropped seven of their next eight conference games, against Purdue and Indiana, with six losses coming by one run and one by two runs. Northwestern finished the season on an up note, coming from behind twice and taking three of four from Iowa in the season's last weekend. The Cats finished ninth in the Big Ten, one-half game out of seventh.
Sophomore shortstop Jeremy Kurella was the team's brightest star in the field, leading the team with a .348 batting average, 53 runs scored and 18 stolen bases (No. 5 in the Big Ten) and starting every game at shortstop for a second-straight year. Kurella was a first-team all-Big Ten selection for the season, and in the middle of the year was invited to tryout for the 1999 USA Baseball national team. the only Big Ten player so honored.
Sophomore catcher Joe Hietpas led the Wildcats with 11 home runs, 44 RBIs and a .588 slugging percentage. He was No. 1 among conference catchers with 13 runners thrown out in Big Ten games. The economics major with a 3.85 GPA was named a GTE second-team Academic All-American after the season.
Junior second baseman J.P. Williamson heated up when Northwestern's conference season started, easily leading the team with a blistering .376 batting average. Northwestern's pitching staff also put up a respectable showing, finishing fifth in the Big Ten in ERA in conference games after leading in the early going. Freshman left-hander Ryan Bos was one of five relief pitchers in the country named Louisville Slugger Freshman All-Americans. Bos was tied for second in the conference with eight saves, posting a 3.81 ERA and going 15-straight appearances at one point without yielding an earned run.
Northwestern pitchers pulled down Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week honors twice in a row in mid-April. Sophomore right-hander J.J. Standring won for his shutout against Illinois, and Zach Schara the following week for his no-hitter against Penn State. Schara's no-no was the first by a Northwestern pitcher in five years, and the first NU no-hitter against a Big Ten team since 1968. Schara earned Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors the following week.
