Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Open Home Schedule Vs. Nittany Lions
4/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 7, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -
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Finally! After a 21-game road trip to start the season, the Northwestern baseball team will don the home jerseys for the first time. NU and Penn State will play a four-game series, with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park. The Wildcats enter the weekend 12-9 overall, 3-1 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions are 14-9, 2-2.
After winning three-of-four games at Indiana last weekend, NU will try and ride the winning momentum through the weekend. The Wildcats have not started 3-1 in league play since before 1981 and had not won a road series since winning three games at Penn State in May of 2001.
At 3-1 in league play, the Wildcats find themselves in third place with 28 games to play on the Big Ten slate. Minnesota and Illinois are tied atop the league standings and four teams, including Penn State, have 2-2 records. Indiana is eighth at 1-3 while Ohio State and Michigan,are both 0-4 and tied for ninth.
NU enters the weekend, hitting .302 as a team, thanks in large part to 54 hits in four games at Indiana last weekend. Juniors Mark Ori (Niles, Ill./Maine South) and Pat McMahon (Mundelein, Ill./Carmel) led the way against the Hoosiers, combining for 18 hits in 34 at-bats. McMahon was 10-for-20 and Ori ended the series 8-for-14. They combined to score 13 runs and drive in seven. Not to be outdone, senior Mike Phelps (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) hit a blistering .625 in two starts. Phelps played in all four games, hitting safely in every game, knocking in crucial RBIs in games two and four. Phelps ended the weekend 5-for-8, but was walked three times as well.
As a team, NU hit .351 against Indiana, tops in the Big Ten.
Penn State, however, brings to Evanston the fourth best pitching staff according to the latest Big Ten pitching stats. The Nittany Lions have a 4.45 ERA in all games. Last weekend against Purdue, PSU gave up 18 runs (15 earned), winning two of four games. They struck out 29 and walked only four.
Offensively for Penn State, Matt Lewis enters the weekend with a team-leading .386 batting average for everyday starters. He has driven in a team-high 24, which includes four home runs and six doubles. Lance Thompson is right on his heels, hitting .371 in 89 at-bats.
The Nittany Lions won three-of-four from the Wildcats in 2004, but NU still holds the all-time series 29-24.
Penn State head coach Robbie Wine is in his first season as the Lion skipper, replacing the retired Joe Hindelang.
Notes
Senior Jon Mikrut has 16 saves in his first three-plus seasons as a Wildcat. He is just one shy of the NU career record of 17 held by Greg Ziesemer (1993-96).
Assistant Coach Tim Stoddard is the only man in history to win an NCAA Basketball Championship and a Major League Baseball World Series Ring. Stoddard was part of N.C. State's 1974 NCAA Championship basketball team and a pitcher for the 1983 World Champion Baltimore Orioles.
Sophomore Ryan Myers is second in the Big Ten with 42 strikeouts. He trails Penn State's Sean Stidfole, who has 44. The amazing thing about Myers' number, is he has done it in only 32.0 innings pitched. Stidfole reached 44 in 44.0 innings pitched.
Northwestern went 3-1 in the opening Big Ten weekend for the first time since 1981. NU also hadn't won three games on the road since beating Penn State three-out-of-four back in May of 2001.
Junior catcher Pat McMahon leads the team with a .411 batting average. He ranks fifth in the Big Ten and is tied with Anthony Wycklendt for the team lead with four home runs. Wycklendt has the edge in RBI, however, 20-15.
The Northwestern bullpen pitched 10 and two-third innings at Indiana, giving up only one run. An amazing feat, considering the two teams totaled 76 runs in four games.
