'Cats Host Western Michigan, Travel to Bradley in Mid-Week Action

4/10/2017 4:01:00 PM | Baseball

NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	STREAM	RADIO
Tuesday, April 11	vs. Western Michigan	3:30 p.m. CT	Miller Park	Watch	WNUR
Wednesday, April 12	at Bradley	7 p.m. CT	Peoria, Ill.	Watch	WNUR
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EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern will host Western Michigan at Miller Park on Tuesday, April 11 for a 3:30 p.m. CT contest, before heading to Bradley the following day to take on the Braves at 7 p.m. CT.

Senior Josh Davis (1-1, 3.63 ERA) will start against Western Michigan on Tuesday and Tommy Bordignon (0-3, 11.14 ERA) will get the ball in Wednesday's road game.

Northwestern (10-20, 2-4 B1G) has collected four wins in its last six games and is coming off back-to-back series wins over Air Force (March 31 – April 2) and Iowa (April 7-9). The Wildcats recorded a pair of come-from-behind wins over the weekend to take the series from the Hawkeyes.

The bullpen was the highlight for Northwestern over the weekend. In Saturday's 7-5 win, freshman Sam Lawrence tossed five-scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. The left-hander struck out two and surrendered two walks, while limiting Iowa to a .118 average at the plate. Senior Pete Hofman earned the save on Sunday after tossing three-scoreless frames to preserve a 6-5 win for the Wildcats. Hofman fanned three batters and only surrendered a pair of hits.

Senior Jake Schieber paced the Wildcats at the dish by collecting five hits, which included a 4-for-4 performance in Friday's opener. Sophomore Jack Dunn tallied four knocks against the Hawkeyes and crossed home plate three times. Freshman Leo Kaplan saw eight at-bats in two games and recorded four hits, including a double and three RBI.

Freshman Alex Erro continues to lead the team with a .316 batting average and 37 hits.

Western Michigan (13-14) makes its way to Miller Park riding a four-game losing streak. The Broncos were swept over the weekend by conference-foe Ball State. Tanner Allison and Connor Smith have each tallied 40-or-more hits in 27 games for WMU. Allison is batting .395 with 45 hits, while Smith has a .333 mark at the dish with 40 knocks.

The Broncos have not yet named a starting pitcher. Western Michigan has a staff ERA of 5.86 and opposing batters are hitting .292 off of them.

Bradley (12-16) enters the week coming off a series win against Milwaukee. The Braves will travel to SIU Edwardsville on Tuesday to battle the Cougars, before hosting Northwestern. Luke Shadid and Luke Mangieri are the lone players hitting over the .300 mark. Shadid is batting .340 this season and Mangieri has a .327 mark. Derek Bangert has belted a team-best eight home runs this season. All three players have tallied 20-or-more RBI.

Bradley has not yet named a started for Wednesday's game. The team boasts a 6.97 ERA and opposing batters are hitting .294 against them.

Northwestern topped Bradley, 5-1, last season at Miller Park. At the plate, the Wildcats had a trio of players tally multiple hits. Connor Lind, Jack Claeys and Willie Bourbon all recorded two knocks, while Jake Schieber and Ben Dickey carried the #B1GCats' run production with two RBIs apiece.