Friday, April 22
Evanston, Ill.
3 p.m.
Northwestern
vs
Minnesota
Wildcats Continue Big Ten Campaign Versus No. 25 Minnesota
4/21/2016 4:57:00 PM | Baseball
| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL VS MINNESOTA | |||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | WATCH | RADIO | LIVE STATS | |
| Friday, April 22 | Minnesota | 3 p.m. CT | Evanston, Ill. | Watch | Listen | Live Stats | |
| Saturday, April 23 | Minnesota | 2 p.m. CT | Evanston, Ill. | Watch | Listen | Live Stats | |
| Sunday, April 24 | Minnesota | 1 p.m. CT | Evanston, Ill. | Watch | Listen | Live Stats | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook | |||||||
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern baseball will welcome No. 25 Minnesota to the new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 22.
Friday's contest against the nationally-ranked Golden Gophers will get underway at 3 p.m. CT, while Saturday's game takes place at 2 p.m. and Sunday's first pitch is set for 1 p.m.
Northwestern (10-27, 2-10 B1G) comes into the weekend off a mid-week 12-10 victory over Chicago State on Tuesday evening. The Wildcats tallied 16 hits against the Cougars; marking the 20th time this season that the club has reached the 10-or-more hit mark in a game.
THE OPPONENT
Minnesota (22-11, 6-2 B1G) travels to Northwestern after entering D1Baseball.com's national rankings earlier this week and No. 25. Minnesota is one of the hottest teams in college baseball, having won 12 of its previous 14 games.
As a team, the Golden Gophers lead the Big Ten in hitting with a .328-team batting average and a .454 slugging percentage. Minnesota has a conference-best total of 388 hits on the year.
Entering the weekend, Minnesota has six players with at least 50 at-bats hitting above the .300 mark, including Matt Fiedler who boasts a .409 clip at the dish. Fiedler was named to the 2016 John Olerud Two-Way Player Award Watch List earlier this week. Austin Athmann is the muscle in Minnesota's order, posting 12 doubles, six home runs and 24 RBIs this season. Athmann's .691 slugging percentage leads the conference.
Northwestern is expected to face RHP Fiedler (5-2, 3.38 ERA) in the series opener, LHP Dalton Sawyer (4-4, 3.96 ERA) on Saturday and RHP Toby Anderson (4-0, 4.66 ERA) in the series finale. Through 53.1 innings pitched, Fiedler has held the opposition to hit just .261 while totaling 40 strikeouts.
ON THE BUMP
Senior Reed Mason (2-4, 3.99 ERA) has been the workhorse for the Wildcats' pitching staff this season. Mason, who is Friday afternoon's probable starter, has tossed 47.1 innings in 10 appearances on the campaign – 12 more frames than anyone else on the roster. In four of his last five starts, Mason has gone at least 6.0 innings and struck out four batters.
Dan Kubiuk (0-4, 5.86 ERA) will get the ball for Northwestern on Saturday. After beginning the season in the bullpen for NU, Kubiuk has made the transition to starter and has made seven starts in 12 appearances. The Barrington, Illinois, native has pitched 35.1 innings this season and has kept opponents to five hits or less in three of his last four starts.
Sunday's starter will be announced at a later time.
ITEMS OF NOTE...
CLOSING IN ON 200
Senior first basemen Zach Jones is closing in on a career milestone. The Glenview, Illinois, native, enters the weekend just six hits shy of 200 for his career. Jones is batting .265 on the season with 40 hits, including nine doubles.
Jones has a .303 career batting average.
IRON 'CATS
Northwestern's left side of the infield has not changed its look this season. Sophomore third baseman Connor Lind and freshman shortstop Jack Dunn have started and played in all 37 of the #B1GCats games.
Freshman second baseman Willie Bourbon has started 36 games and played in all 37, while junior Matt Hopfner has started and played in 36 contests.
HOPPY IS (STILL) HITTING
Junior outfielder Matt Hopfner continues to be a force at the plate. Hopfner leads the 'Cats with a .391 batting average, which ranks him third in the Big Ten Conference. Hopfner also ranks towards the top of the conference (T-2nd) in total hits with 55 entering the weekend.
On the season, Hopfner has had 20 multi-hit games.
10 x 20
Northwestern has tallied 10-or-more hits in 20 games this season, including its previous two games (11, vs. Penn State and 16, at Chicago State). Northwestern has matched its single-game high mark of 17 hits in a contest on three occasions this season – vs. Butler (March 5) and at San Diego State (March 11/March 12).
Northwestern has 352 hits this season, which places them in a tie for fourth among Big Ten teams.
In the 2015 series finale between Northwestern and Minnesota, the Wildcats belted 20 knocks and scored a season-high 19 runs to take the series from the Gophers, 2-1.
STREAKIN'
Northwestern has a couple of streaks going on heading into the weekend.
Junior Joe Hoscheit is in the midst of a 10-game hit streak dating back to April 3 vs. Michigan. Hoscheit is batting .389 during the streak with 14 hits, including a double and two home runs. The hitting streak is the longest for any Wildcat player this season.
Matt Hopfner has reached base in 20 consecutive games entering Friday's series opener against Minnesota. Connor Lind had a 24-game reached base streak earlier this season.
FRESH PEN
The bright spot of Northwestern's bullpen this season has featured fresh, young arms.
Sophomore Tommy Bordignon has been head coach Spencer Allen's first call to the pen on numerous occasions this season. The Glenview, Illinois, native has struck out 21 batters in 31.0 innings of work and is holding opposing hitters to a .182 batting average.
Since opening Big Ten play at Ohio State on March 25, junior transfer Josh Davis has appeared in nine games and has tossed 9.0 innings, allowing nine hits and two runs.
During that same stretch of games, Justin Yoss has proved to be effective in his appearances. Yoss has thrown 6.0 innings in five appearances and has only allowed four hits and one run. The big right-hander has struck out eight batters in those outings.
Freshman Danny Katz possesses the best ERA on the team with a 2.70 mark in 13 appearances. The Winnetka, Illinois, native's highlight performance came when entered the game from the pen against Chicago State (March 30) and pitched 5.0 innings to pick up the first victory of his career.
MINNESOTA NATIVES
Northwestern has two Minnesota natives on its roster. Junior Matt Hopfner (Edina, Minnesota/Edina) and sophomore Jack Claeys (Eden Prairie, Minnesota/Eden Prairie) both hail from the North Star State.
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