Saturday, May 14
Evanston, Ill.
2 p.m.
Northwestern
vs
Cal
Northwestern Hosts Cal in Final Home Weekend Series
5/13/2016 9:41:00 AM | Baseball
| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL VS CALIFORNIA | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | WATCH | STATS | |
| Saturday, May 14 | Cal | 2 p.m. CT | Evanston, Ill. | BTN Plus | Live Stats | |
| Sunday, May 15 | Cal (DH) | 11 a.m. CT/2 p.m. CT | Evanston, Ill. | BTN Plus | Live Stats | |
| Monday, May 16 | Cal | 3 p.m. CT | Evanston, Ill. | BTN Plus | Live Stats | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook | ||||||
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern baseball will conclude its season-long seven-game homestand this weekend when it welcomes California to Rocky and Berenice Miller Park for a four-game non-conference series that will run from Saturday, May 14 through Monday, May 16.
This weekend's action will wrap up the home portion of Northwestern's 2016 home campaign. The Wildcats will honor six of their seniors before Saturday's 2 p.m. CT contest. Northwestern and Cal will play a doubleheader on Sunday, May 15, beginning at 11 a.m. CT, before finishing the series on Monday with a 3 p.m. CT first pitch.
This will be the first time since March 4-6 that Northwestern will play four games in one weekend.
Northwestern (13-34, 5-16 B1G) enters the series with the Golden Bears fresh off a sweep of Big Ten-foe Purdue last weekend (May 6-8) in Evanston. The Wildcats posted a 7-3 and a 7-4 victory on Friday and Saturday, respectively, before ending the sweep with a 3-0 shutout victory on Sunday.
California (25-18, 11-13 Pac-12), who recently dropped from the USA Today Coaches' Poll, comes to Evanston having lost seven of its last 10 games, including two straight at Stanford (May 5-7) last weekend.
The Golden Bears started the season ranked No. 12 in the USA Today/ESPN Preseason Top 25, 10th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Preseason Poll, eighth in the Baseball America poll and Perfect Game polls, as well as ninth in the D1Baseball.com poll, and 13th in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
ON THE BUMP
The Wildcats will roll out the same starting three pitchers as they did the previous two weekends. Senior LHP Reed Mason (3-6, 3.86 ERA) will make his final home start on Saturday, while junior RHP Joe Schindler (1-1, 3.81 ERA) and sophomore RHP Tommy Bordignon (2-3, 4.15 ERA) are slated to pitch the doubleheader.
Northwestern has not yet announced its starter for Monday's finale.
California will pitch RHP Ryan Mason (6-2, 2.69 ERA) in in the series lidlifter, before sending out LHP Matt Ladrech (3-4, 4.28 ERA) and RHP Tanner Dodson (2-4, 3.00 ERA) for Sunday's doubleheader.
The Golden Bears have not yet announced a starter for Monday.
THANK YOU SENIORS
Northwestern will bid farewell to six of its seniors this weekend as they play on the Rocky and Berenice Miller Park turf for the final time. Antonio Freschet, Zach Jones, Reed Mason, Evan Schreiber, Jake Stolley and RJ Watters will play their final home series of their collegiate careers this weekend. Each one of them will walk across the stage next month at graduation to receive their degree.
STRONG STARTS
A big reason for Northwestern's sweep over Purdue last weekend is credited to the performances of its starting pitchers.
Reed Mason recorded his second straight quality start in Friday's contest when he went 7.0 innings, allowing only two runs, one earned, and striking out a season-high seven batters.
On Saturday, Joe Schindler was able to keep Northwestern in the contest when he made his third start of the season, tossing 4.1 innings and matching a season-high six strikeouts.
Tommy Bordignon made his second start of his career in Sunday's finale, but the young righty only allowed four hits, struck out three and at one point retired eight in a row to eventually get the win.
LASS TO THE RESCUE
Tyler Lass picked up the first two saves of his career against Purdue. The freshman right-hander was nearly perfect in his three innings of work on Saturday and Sunday, sitting down eight of the 10 batters he faced in the three innings of work.
HOW SWEEP IT IS
Northwestern's sweep over Purdue last weekend (May 6-8) was the first series sweep for the program since the 2007 season. The Wildcats' current three-game win streak is the longest of their season.
RBI BOURBON
Freshman second baseman Willie Bourbon ranks second on the team with 27 runs batted in during his first collegiate campaign. He leads the club in batting average with runners in scoring position with a .309 clip (17-for-55). Ten of his 27 RBIs have come with two outs.
MR. 200
Senior Zach Jones etched his name into the Northwestern baseball history books on Saturday, May 7 vs. Purdue. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Glenview, Illinois, native drove a pitch to the left center gap to leadoff the frame with a double. The knock was the 200th of his career. Jones is the active team-leader in career hits with 201.
HOPPY CAN'T HELP BUT HIT
Since the Wildcats opened Big Ten Conference play on March 25, junior Matt Hopfner has ranked in the Big Ten's top 10 for batting average every week.
Currently, the Edina, Minn., native has a team-best .370 average, which places him seventh in the Big Ten. For the season, Hopfner has 22 multiple-hit games and a total of 64 knocks.
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 47 of the #B1GCats games.
Freshman second baseman Willie Bourbon has started 46 games and played in all 47, while junior Matt Hopfner has started and played in 45 contests.
STREAKIN'
Matt Hopfner enters the weekend set versus Cal riding an eight-game hit streak. Hopfner has registered a knock in every game dating back to the #B1GCats' Sunday, April 24 tilt vs. Minnesota. He is batting .357 during the streak with 10 hits, including a pair of doubles.
The team's season-long hit streak still belongs to Joe Hoscheit, who put together an 11-game stretch earlier in the campaign.
Hopfner, along with Connor Lind, has reached base in eight consecutive games. Lind set a team-high mark earlier this season when he reached base in 24-straight games.
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