Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats and Hawkeyes Set For Weekend Conference Series
4/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 28, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - With most of the road schedule done, the Northwestern baseball team will play 14 of its next 19 games at Rocky Miller Park. Twelve of those games are conference games, including this weekend's four-game conference set against the University of Iowa. Iowa is third in the Big Ten with an 11-5 record and are 18-19 overall. The Wildcats are 18-17 overall and sixth in the Big Ten with a 7-9 record.
Northwestern and Iowa have played two like opponents in conference action, Indiana and Penn State. Iowa went 3-1 against both opponents. NU opened the Big Ten season against Indiana, winning three games, but followed up winning only one against Penn State. NU and Iowa split four game in 2004.
This weekend's four-game series is just the second road conference series of the season. The Hawkeyes went 3-1 at Michigan back on April 8-10. Overall, Iowa is 4-10 on the road.
While Iowa is playing only its second road series of the year, NU is hosting just its second conference series of 2005. NU is 3-3 at Rocky Miller Park this season, 1-3 in the Big Ten.
The Hawkeyes dropped both midweek games, falling to Northern Iowa 8-6 at the Corridor Classic, then losing a 4-1 home contest against Western Illinois.
Northwestern won its only midweek game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 18-6. Catcher Pat McMahon (Mundelein, Ill./Carmel) and shortstop Jon Mikrut (Wauconda, Ill./Carmel) combined to 10-for-13 with six RBI.
Iowa enters the weekend hitting .287 as a team, which ranks them ninth in the Big Ten in overall games. Catcher Kris Welker leads the Hawkeye everyday starters with a .353 average in 35 starts. He has a team high 31 RBI and is second in doubles (9) and triples (3). From his catcher's position, Welker has thrown out 12 would-be base stealers in 42 chances. Infielder Andy Lytle has started every game for Iowa, hitting at a .325 clip. He leads the team with 49 hits and is third with 25 RBI.
On the mound for Iowa, left-hander Tim Gudex has a team low 3.11 ERA in 18 appearances. He has thrown 37.2 innings and has four saves. Junior right-hander Luke O'Loughlin has started seven games and has the lowest ERA (3.64) of any Hawkeye with seven or more starts. He also leads the team with 36 strikeouts.
For Northwestern, McMahon leads both Northwestern and the Big Ten with a .435 batting average. The junior catcher is third in the conference with 57 hits and 12 doubles. He also has a league high .486 on-base percentage. Not to be outdone, Anthony Wycklendt is second on the team with a .333 average, but is tops on the squad with 32 RBI and seven home runs.
Sophomore George Kontos has the lowest ERA (3.42) of any Wildcat to pitch more than 41 innings. Senior Chris Hayes has a 1.82 ERA in 14 appearances and a league best six saves. Hayes has struck out 24 in 29.2 innings pitched.
Game one of the four-game series begins at 3 p.m. Friday.
