Northwestern University Athletics
First-Place Wildcats Host Michigan State at Rocky Miller Park
5/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 12, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Michigan State Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Game
Northwestern enters uncharted territory as it races towards the finish of an eight-week Big Ten season in first place. With two weeks remaining, NU welcomes Michigan State to Rocky Miller Park for a four-game series beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The Spartans are 23-24 overall and in eighth place with a 10-14 Big Ten record. MSU went 1-3 at Ohio State last weekend.
The Wildcats are tied with Michigan atop the Big Ten standings and own the tiebreaker over the Wolverines after winning three-of-four to start the Big Ten season in Ann Arbor. Michigan is at Penn State this weekend.
As a team, MSU leads the Big Ten with a .325 batting average in 47 games. They have hit 27 home runs and are 85-for-123 in stolen bases.
Senior Pat McMahon and junior Antonio Mulé lead the `Cats with identical .339 batting averages. Both players are 58-for-171, but Mulé holds a slight advantage in home runs (7-to-5) and RBI (35-to-32). Five of Mulé's homers have come in Big Ten games, which is tied for best in the league. Senior left fielder Anthony Wycklendt also has five league round-trippers. McMahon leads the squad with 11 doubles, while second baseman Jake Owens has eight.
As a team, NU leads the Big Ten with 30 home runs and is seventh with a .275 batting average.
On the mound for Northwestern, Big Ten Pitcher of the Year candidate Dan Brauer is 5-0 in conference action, 5-1 overall. He leads the Big Ten in strikeouts, in both overall games (75) and in conference (41). He has started 12 games this season and thrown a total of 70.2 innings. Junior George Kontos is coming off a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Minnesota. Kontos struck out nine and allowed only two hits in the loss.
As a pitching staff, NU is sixth in league contests with a 6.57 ERA and third with 146 strikeouts.
Projected Starters
The Series With....
Sweet Sixteen
Big Ten Pitcher of the Week
One-Run Warriors
Bean Ball
Ding Dong
The Siberio Scenario
Atop The Ten
C Geoff Dietz (.273, 5 2B, 12 RBI, Jr.)
1B Pat McMahon (.339, 25 Runs, 11 2B, 5 HR Sr.)
2B Jake Owens (.293, 36 Runs, 2 3B, HR, So.)
3B Caleb Fields (.310, 24 Runs, 3 HR, Jr.)
SS Tommy Finn (.242, 14 RBI, Fr.)
LF Anthony Wycklendt (.228, 6 2B, 6 HR, Sr.)
CF Aaron Newman (.269, 24 Runs, HR, So.) OR
-OR- Max Mann (.200, 3 HR, So.)
RF Antonio Mulé (.339, 7 HR, 35 RBI, So.)
-OR- Max Mann (.200, 3 HR, So.)
DH Antonio Mulé (.339, 7 HR, 35 RBI, So.)
-OR- Max Mann (.200, 3 HR, So.)
MSU: Michigan State leads 73-39-1
The Last Series: Northwestern defeated Michigan State three out of four games at Rocky Miller Park last season.
With NU's 9-8 game-four victory over Minnesota last Sunday, Northwestern's baseball team won the most Big Ten games in school history for one season. Five teams (2004, `95, `93, `91, & `89) have won 15 league games on one season, but the 2006 squad is the first to reach 16.
Junior Dan Brauer was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, marking the second time he has won the weekly award this season. Brauer pitched one his best games as a collegiate pitcher this past Saturday against Minnesota and then turned in an impressive performance at the plate on Sunday. In the game he pitched, the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, he threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out a season-high 10. He allowed only two runners to reach third base and all four hits he gave up were singles. At the plate on Sunday, Brauer was 2-for-2 with a three-run home run in the first inning. He was walked twice and doubled in his other at bat. He scored three times in NU's 9-8 victory. Brauer leads the conference with 75 strikeouts in 70.2 innings pitched.
So far this season, NU has played 19 one-run games. In those 19 games, the Wildcats are 12-7. Twelve of those 19 games have come during the Big Ten season where NU has an impressive 10-2 record. They have won at least one one-run game in each of its conference series so far this season, including three at Michigan.
Sophomore Aaron Newman has already been hit by a lot of pitches in his young career. As a matter of fact, Newman has been hit 13 times this season, which ties the NU single-season record for being hit by pitches. Couple that with the 11 he amassed last season and he is already tied for fifth on the all-time hit-by-pitch list with 24. Former Wildcat catcher Ken Padgett owns the all-time record with 33.
Through 24 Big Ten games, Northwestern is first in home runs hit with 21. Purdue is second with 18. Outfielders Anthony Wycklendt and Antonio Mulé are tied for the league lead with five round-trippers each. Mulé has seven total home runs, while Wycklendt has six. First baseman Pat McMahon has three league long balls and five total.
Senior right-hander Julio Siberio pitched five innings last Sunday against Minnesota. It was his first start in two weeks after coming out of the bullpen three times in four games two weeks ago at Iowa. In his five innings, he gave up three runs (one earned), striking out two. He earned his third win of the season and leads the team with a 3.38 earned-run average. He has struck out 40 and walked just eight in 50.2 innings pitched. That is a 5:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Siberio is ranked sixth in the Big Ten in overall ERA (3.38) and fifth in strikeouts (league games only) with 33.
Through six weeks (24 games) of the Big Ten conference season, Northwestern and Michigan share the top spot with identical 16-8 records. NU hosts Michigan State, while Michigan travels to State College, Pa., to take on Penn State. Just one game back, Ohio State, hosts Minnesota.
