Northwestern University Athletics
From Turning Point to Title Game: 2017 Northwestern Baseball Recap
6/15/2017 9:16:00 AM | Baseball
From Turning Point to Title Game — 2017 Northwestern Baseball
Amit Mallik
In the top of the third inning on April 1, the Wildcats trailed Air Force, 6-0, in game two of a doubleheader. They had dropped game one, 11-3, after giving up seven runs in the sixth inning.
The program was 6-18 at that point of the season and coming off a 15-39 season the year before.
The all-too-familiar feeling of gloom and resignation had crept into Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.
With one out and two runners on, senior Jake Schieber scooped up a Falcon base hit and rifled a bullet from center field to catcher Jack Claeys for an out at the plate, before Claeys stood back up and caught another runner trying to advance to third.
At the time, it seemed like an unorthodox double play in a game long gone. Head coach Spencer Allen believed that moment was the turning point of his young team's entire season.
"I look back at that moment, and it might seem like nothing, but it sparked some belief," Allen said. "That can be all it takes, and you start to believe you can win in any situation."
Northwestern would rally all the way back that day, scoring in four different innings before eventually winning, 7-6. The next day in the rubber match against Air Force with the score tied at 2-2 in the 11th inning, Connor Lind blasted a walk-off home run to take the series.
The 'Cats would never look back.
Northwestern went 11-8 in April and made an early push in conference play, taking a series at home over Iowa and one on the road against Penn State. A series loss to Michigan State at the end of the month, however, left the 'Cats 6-9 in conference play in 10th place, and in a tough position to make the Big Ten Tournament, reserved for the top eight teams in the conference.
With road trips to Purdue, who was 8-7 at the time in the Big Ten, and Maryland, 19-1 at home, Northwestern was staring down long odds.
"At the beginning of the year, our goal was to play postseason baseball," Allen said. "We never felt like that was out of reach, but we knew our backs were to the wall heading into May. Every game became a playoff game and at that point, it was fight or flight."
The Wildcats took two out of three from the Boilermakers, including a seesawing, 8-7, thriller in game three, and followed that with a series win against the Terrapins thanks to Alex Erro's go-ahead home run in the top of the 11th of the series finale for a 6-5 win.
"Starting the season, we didn't have some of that resiliency," Allen said. "You have to do it a couple of times before you can believe you can do it, and then you saw the team we could be."
After a resounding sweep of Rutgers at home to close out the season, Northwestern finished seventh in the Big Ten with a 13-11 conference record and qualified for the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2010. The improved five spots in the Big Ten standings from 2015.
The offensive lineup became consistent one through nine as the year went on, but two key developments spurred the 'Cats turnaround from rebuilding project to Big Ten threat. The first was that senior Joe Hoscheit morphed into an offensive juggernaut.
Hoscheit batted .468 in 24 conference games and finished with 44 hits, 10 doubles and 29 RBI to become the Big Ten statistical champion. His average in conference play was the highest by any Big Ten player in the last 18 seasons.
He earned back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week awards, the first Wildcat to do so since 2006 and only the third to do so in program history.
"Honestly, I don't know exactly what happened," Hoscheit said. "I had struggled a little bit to get to full health in the fall and the beginning of the season, and then it just all came together. Hitting is contagious and I was just able to get in a groove, taking it one at-bat at a time."
Hoscheit and fellow senior Matt Hopfner flip-flopped their usual spots in their order with Hoscheit moving to third and Hopfner taking on clean-up duties. With Hopfner's .301 average on the season, along with 33 RBI, the duo became as formidable as anyone else in the Big Ten.
"To have two seniors lead the team the way 'Hoppy' and Hoscheit did was incredible," Allen said. "They found a way to win us more than a few games, and their example is huge for our ballclub."
The second development behind the swing in fortunes was the pitching staff's hard work that translated into clean baseball under associate head coach Josh Reynolds' tutelage.
"I can't say enough about what [Josh] Reynolds did with our pitchers," Allen said. "It's one of the best coaching jobs that I've ever seen … Just building a game plan and getting our guys to throw strikes. And in every big comeback we had, you need the pitchers to hold score, to keep competing for nine innings."
"I can't take any of the credit," Reynolds said. "Our pitchers worked hard every day to get better, grinding through the season and on the mound actually throwing the ball. Each and every guy wanted to get better themselves, and you saw what happened when that work paid off.
"Our guys went out there, threw strikes and attacked the zone," Reynolds continued. "We cut down on those free bases that can be an issue. We set what roles guys would be coming into and it made things a lot easier."
Reynolds juggled a staff with few upperclassmen and a lot of young talent, including four freshmen who finished with over 35 innings pitched. While almost everyone on the staff contributed, Sam Lawrence, Hank Christie, Cooper Wetherbee, and Pete Hofman particularly stood out in the turnaround.
Lawrence led the team with a 2.85 ERA in 47.1 IP and was a reliever out of the bullpen who often came into the toughest situations as a freshman. Christie started every weekend for the Wildcats as a freshman and in his last six starts, earned four wins en route to being named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.
"We knew Hank was going to be very consistent and not beat himself, and he did just that," Reynolds said. "Same thing with Sam and we trusted him to come into any situation and get the job done."
Cooper Wetherbee brought a great narrative with him heading into his senior year, having started on the club baseball team at Northwestern his freshman and sophomore years while also participating in the marching band. He walked-on to the varsity team as a junior, but wanted to be more than just a good story. By the end of this senior year, he became the Friday starter and the de facto ace for the Wildcats.
"What you saw from Coop at the end of the year was always where he wanted to be," Reynold said. "He kept saying to himself, 'I'm better than this,' and kept pushing himself and for him to get where he ended was incredible."
Wetherbee finished his senior season with a 3.17 ERA, the lowest of any starter and struck out a career-high nine in two of his last three appearances.
Pete Hofman carried a similar story of yearly improvement and increased his strikeout totals from 16 his sophomore year to 21 his junior year and up to 46 his senior season in 39.0 innings pitched. Hofman was often the first guy out of the bullpen in a series and came through with clutch outs throughout the season.
"Pete is a guy that never was satisfied with where he was at," Reynolds said. "He became such a reliable option for us, and together with Coop, was just a senior leader for our young guys to learn from on how to work hard day in and day out."
When the 'Cats entered the Big Ten Tournament as a seven-seed, nobody was expecting them to make any noise, especially with their tough draw against a talented Michigan team in the first round.
But after a back-and-forth affair where NU trailed, 4-3, heading into the ninth inning, Allen's ball club showed its resiliency once more, and rallied for three runs off of the Wolverines' closer, Jackson Lamb, who had not allowed a single run the entire season to that point.
Northwestern's 6-4 win was the first tournament victory for the program since 2006.
"When they came back from the Michigan game, the staff said, okay we can do this," Allen said. "It was exciting to see the belief that we were going to win ballgames."
A historical and magical run ensued. The Wildcats knocked off Minnesota the next game, 11-7, and eventually downed Maryland in a semifinal, 6-5, to make the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 1984.
While Iowa took home the title after Northwestern had to play in a doubleheader on Championship Sunday, the incredible run offered a glimpse of the direction Allen has this program heading.
"After the season, guys in all their exit meetings started talking about wanting more," Allen said. "You can hang your hat on this and talk about what we are capable of, but we are not going to stop here. We want to secure our postseason berth earlier and think about even more than just the Big Ten Tournament."
"Guys want more. Winning is fun and the expectations change," Reynolds said. "But they remember what got them there, the day-to-day grind. They want to prove it wasn't a fluke."
A win in the Big Ten Tournament championship would have given the Wildcats an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1957.
Allen points to players like Alex Erro, Jack Dunn, and especially junior Jack Claeys to lead the club with their experience from this year.
"It's about finding different ways to win and we have the guys here that can do that," Allen said. "We don't need someone to be the next Joe Hoscheit next season. We need to stay true to our process, find our identity, and play winning Wildcat baseball."
Amit Mallik
In the top of the third inning on April 1, the Wildcats trailed Air Force, 6-0, in game two of a doubleheader. They had dropped game one, 11-3, after giving up seven runs in the sixth inning.
The program was 6-18 at that point of the season and coming off a 15-39 season the year before.
The all-too-familiar feeling of gloom and resignation had crept into Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.
With one out and two runners on, senior Jake Schieber scooped up a Falcon base hit and rifled a bullet from center field to catcher Jack Claeys for an out at the plate, before Claeys stood back up and caught another runner trying to advance to third.
At the time, it seemed like an unorthodox double play in a game long gone. Head coach Spencer Allen believed that moment was the turning point of his young team's entire season.
"I look back at that moment, and it might seem like nothing, but it sparked some belief," Allen said. "That can be all it takes, and you start to believe you can win in any situation."
Northwestern would rally all the way back that day, scoring in four different innings before eventually winning, 7-6. The next day in the rubber match against Air Force with the score tied at 2-2 in the 11th inning, Connor Lind blasted a walk-off home run to take the series.
The 'Cats would never look back.
Northwestern went 11-8 in April and made an early push in conference play, taking a series at home over Iowa and one on the road against Penn State. A series loss to Michigan State at the end of the month, however, left the 'Cats 6-9 in conference play in 10th place, and in a tough position to make the Big Ten Tournament, reserved for the top eight teams in the conference.
With road trips to Purdue, who was 8-7 at the time in the Big Ten, and Maryland, 19-1 at home, Northwestern was staring down long odds.
"At the beginning of the year, our goal was to play postseason baseball," Allen said. "We never felt like that was out of reach, but we knew our backs were to the wall heading into May. Every game became a playoff game and at that point, it was fight or flight."
The Wildcats took two out of three from the Boilermakers, including a seesawing, 8-7, thriller in game three, and followed that with a series win against the Terrapins thanks to Alex Erro's go-ahead home run in the top of the 11th of the series finale for a 6-5 win.
"Starting the season, we didn't have some of that resiliency," Allen said. "You have to do it a couple of times before you can believe you can do it, and then you saw the team we could be."
After a resounding sweep of Rutgers at home to close out the season, Northwestern finished seventh in the Big Ten with a 13-11 conference record and qualified for the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2010. The improved five spots in the Big Ten standings from 2015.
The offensive lineup became consistent one through nine as the year went on, but two key developments spurred the 'Cats turnaround from rebuilding project to Big Ten threat. The first was that senior Joe Hoscheit morphed into an offensive juggernaut.
Hoscheit batted .468 in 24 conference games and finished with 44 hits, 10 doubles and 29 RBI to become the Big Ten statistical champion. His average in conference play was the highest by any Big Ten player in the last 18 seasons.
He earned back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week awards, the first Wildcat to do so since 2006 and only the third to do so in program history.
"Honestly, I don't know exactly what happened," Hoscheit said. "I had struggled a little bit to get to full health in the fall and the beginning of the season, and then it just all came together. Hitting is contagious and I was just able to get in a groove, taking it one at-bat at a time."
Hoscheit and fellow senior Matt Hopfner flip-flopped their usual spots in their order with Hoscheit moving to third and Hopfner taking on clean-up duties. With Hopfner's .301 average on the season, along with 33 RBI, the duo became as formidable as anyone else in the Big Ten.
"To have two seniors lead the team the way 'Hoppy' and Hoscheit did was incredible," Allen said. "They found a way to win us more than a few games, and their example is huge for our ballclub."
The second development behind the swing in fortunes was the pitching staff's hard work that translated into clean baseball under associate head coach Josh Reynolds' tutelage.
"I can't say enough about what [Josh] Reynolds did with our pitchers," Allen said. "It's one of the best coaching jobs that I've ever seen … Just building a game plan and getting our guys to throw strikes. And in every big comeback we had, you need the pitchers to hold score, to keep competing for nine innings."
"I can't take any of the credit," Reynolds said. "Our pitchers worked hard every day to get better, grinding through the season and on the mound actually throwing the ball. Each and every guy wanted to get better themselves, and you saw what happened when that work paid off.
"Our guys went out there, threw strikes and attacked the zone," Reynolds continued. "We cut down on those free bases that can be an issue. We set what roles guys would be coming into and it made things a lot easier."
Reynolds juggled a staff with few upperclassmen and a lot of young talent, including four freshmen who finished with over 35 innings pitched. While almost everyone on the staff contributed, Sam Lawrence, Hank Christie, Cooper Wetherbee, and Pete Hofman particularly stood out in the turnaround.
Lawrence led the team with a 2.85 ERA in 47.1 IP and was a reliever out of the bullpen who often came into the toughest situations as a freshman. Christie started every weekend for the Wildcats as a freshman and in his last six starts, earned four wins en route to being named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.
"We knew Hank was going to be very consistent and not beat himself, and he did just that," Reynolds said. "Same thing with Sam and we trusted him to come into any situation and get the job done."
Cooper Wetherbee brought a great narrative with him heading into his senior year, having started on the club baseball team at Northwestern his freshman and sophomore years while also participating in the marching band. He walked-on to the varsity team as a junior, but wanted to be more than just a good story. By the end of this senior year, he became the Friday starter and the de facto ace for the Wildcats.
"What you saw from Coop at the end of the year was always where he wanted to be," Reynold said. "He kept saying to himself, 'I'm better than this,' and kept pushing himself and for him to get where he ended was incredible."
Wetherbee finished his senior season with a 3.17 ERA, the lowest of any starter and struck out a career-high nine in two of his last three appearances.
Pete Hofman carried a similar story of yearly improvement and increased his strikeout totals from 16 his sophomore year to 21 his junior year and up to 46 his senior season in 39.0 innings pitched. Hofman was often the first guy out of the bullpen in a series and came through with clutch outs throughout the season.
"Pete is a guy that never was satisfied with where he was at," Reynolds said. "He became such a reliable option for us, and together with Coop, was just a senior leader for our young guys to learn from on how to work hard day in and day out."
When the 'Cats entered the Big Ten Tournament as a seven-seed, nobody was expecting them to make any noise, especially with their tough draw against a talented Michigan team in the first round.
But after a back-and-forth affair where NU trailed, 4-3, heading into the ninth inning, Allen's ball club showed its resiliency once more, and rallied for three runs off of the Wolverines' closer, Jackson Lamb, who had not allowed a single run the entire season to that point.
Northwestern's 6-4 win was the first tournament victory for the program since 2006.
"When they came back from the Michigan game, the staff said, okay we can do this," Allen said. "It was exciting to see the belief that we were going to win ballgames."
A historical and magical run ensued. The Wildcats knocked off Minnesota the next game, 11-7, and eventually downed Maryland in a semifinal, 6-5, to make the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 1984.
While Iowa took home the title after Northwestern had to play in a doubleheader on Championship Sunday, the incredible run offered a glimpse of the direction Allen has this program heading.
"After the season, guys in all their exit meetings started talking about wanting more," Allen said. "You can hang your hat on this and talk about what we are capable of, but we are not going to stop here. We want to secure our postseason berth earlier and think about even more than just the Big Ten Tournament."
"Guys want more. Winning is fun and the expectations change," Reynolds said. "But they remember what got them there, the day-to-day grind. They want to prove it wasn't a fluke."
A win in the Big Ten Tournament championship would have given the Wildcats an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1957.
Allen points to players like Alex Erro, Jack Dunn, and especially junior Jack Claeys to lead the club with their experience from this year.
"It's about finding different ways to win and we have the guys here that can do that," Allen said. "We don't need someone to be the next Joe Hoscheit next season. We need to stay true to our process, find our identity, and play winning Wildcat baseball."
••••••
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