SCHEDULE UPDATE: Northwestern and Air Force Clash at Miller Park

3/30/2017 11:31:00 AM | Baseball

NORTHWESTERN vs. AIR FORCE
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	STREAM	RADIO
Saturday, April 1	Air Force	11 a.m. CT	Miller Park	Watch	WNUR
Saturday, April 1	Air Force	2:30 p.m. CT	Miller Park	Watch	WNUR
Sunday, April 2	Air Force	Noon CT	Miller Park	Watch	WNUR
Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (nucatsbaseball) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Air Force

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern wraps up its 12-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against Air Force at Miller Park.Due to inclement weather in the forecast, the teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 1, beginning at 11 a.m. CT with the second game to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Sunday's contest is still set for noon.

Northwestern (6-17) enters the weekend series coming off a 2-0 shutout victory over Chicago State on Wednesday, March 29. The shutout win was Northwestern's first shutout since May 14, 2015.

Senior Cooper Wetherbee (1-1, 1.53 ERA) was the story in Saturday's win over the Cougars. The left-hander went a career-high 7.0-scoreless innings, holding Chicago State to just four hits. Wetherbee struck out one batter and walked two in the 26 batters he faced. It was the first quality start of his career.

Air Force (11-13) travels to Evanston after notching a 1-0 win over Omaha on March 28. The Falcons boast one of the most high-flying offenses in the country. Air Force's team batting average of .331 ranks fourth nationally, while the team also ranks in the top-50 for doubles per game (T-3rd; 2.71), slugging percentage (13^th; 0.499), scoring (35^th; 7.4), on base percentage (40^th; 0.396) and triples per game (34^th; 0.83).

The Falcons have a trio of players batting over the .400 mark. Drew Wiss is batting .423 on the campaign, while Tyler Zaboljnik and Bradley Haslam are hitting .422 and .417, respectively. The trio's batting averages rank 18^th, 19^th and 22^nd in the country. Zaboljnik and Haslam each lead the club with 43 hits and 13 doubles apiece.

Jacob DeVries (1-2, 11.05 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season on Friday for Air Force, before Ethan Nichols (2-1, 6.04 ERA) gets the ball to start Saturday's game and Matt Hargreaves (1-2, 6.47 ERA) starts Sunday's finale. Hargreaves leads the club in innings pitched (32.0) and strikeouts (32).

Head coach Spencer Allen has tabbed junior Tommy Bordignon (0-1, 11.48 ERA) for Friday's start. The right-hander has worked 13.1 innings this season and has tallied 12 strikeouts. Opposing batters are hitting .275 against him.

Allen will then go with a pair of freshmen to start the final two games of the series. Freshman Hank Christie (1-4, 5.04 ERA) makes his team-leading seventh start of the season on Saturday and Matt Gannon (0-2, 4.96 ERA) gets the starting nod for the fifth time in his career on Sunday. Last time out, Gannon went 4.1 innings of relief against Indiana and held Indiana's batters to a .071 batting average, only surrendering one hit.

ERRO ON FIRE
Freshman Alex Erro continues to pace the club at the dish, hitting .341 in his rookie campaign. Erro ranks 11^th nationally, and first in the Big Ten, in the toughest to strike out category. The Miami, Florida, native has only been retired via a strikeout four times this season or once every 22.0 at-bats. Erro saw his 17-game hitting streak come to an end last weekend.

MASHING IN MARCH
Three players have turned it up at the plate in the month of March. Matt Hopfner (24), Alex Erro (23) and Connor Lind (20) have all collected 20-or-more hits in 17 games during the month of March. Hopfner and teammate Joe Hoscheit have each tallied six extra-base hits during the stretch. Hopfner has recorded five doubles and a triple, while Hoscheit has four doubles and a pair of home runs. Hoscheit is responsible for driving in a team-best 14 runs in the month.

HAMMERING HOSCHEIT
Senior Joe Hoscheit put on a hitting display last weekend in the series against Indiana at Miller Park. Hoscheit batted .615 in the three games against the Hoosiers with eight hits, six runs and six RBI. The Wildcats' left fielder finished the weekend with three doubles, a home run and a 1.077 slugging percentage.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Head coach Spencer Allen has turned to freshmen for contributions early in the campaign. Eight newcomers have seen regular action in 2017. Alex Erro (2B), Nick Paciorek (C) and Charlie Maxwell (UTL) have been regulars in the lineup, all having seen action in over 17 games, while Hank Christie, Matt Gannon, Josh Levy, Same Lawrence and Nick Cauley have all made seven-or-more appearances on the mound.