Northwestern
Western Carolina University
'Cats Head to Spartanburg to Face the Carolinas
3/5/2020 1:39:00 PM | Baseball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wildcats head south on Friday as South Carolina-Upstate hosts Northwestern and Western Carolina University in Spartansburg, S.C. this weekend. Northwestern will play as the home team against Western Carolina at 11 a.m. CT Friday morning before starting a two-game series with the Spartans. First-pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT Saturday and noon CT Sunday.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, March 6, 11 A.M. CT
Western Carolina: TBD
Northwestern: RHP Mike Doherty, 0-0, 1.20 ERA
Saturday, Mar. 7, 1 P.M. CT
South Carolina-Upstate: Austin Morgan, 0-0, 2.77 ERA
Northwestern: RHP Tyler Uberstine, 1-0, 3.00 ERA
Sunday, Mar. 8, 12 P.M. CT
South Carolina-Upstate: TBD
Northwestern: LHP Quinn Lavelle, 0-2, 11.57 ERA
STORYLINES
Same Places, New Faces
This weekend will mark the first ever meeting with South Carolina-Upstate and only the fourth matchup with Western Carolina in program history. However, this is already Northwestern's second trip to the Palmetto State less than a month into the season after it took a 2-1 series win against South Carolina in February, a team that made a Super Regional in 2018. The two Wildcat wins in that series came from extra inning heroics in the tenth.
The Return
Senior Hank Christie, Northwestern's active leader in starts, returned to the mound for the first time against UIC after missing time from an injury in March of his junior season. He struck out two while holding the Flames scoreless in two innings pitched to start the game.
Winning Mentality
The 'Cats are coming off a dominant 8-2 against cross-town rivals, UIC. First year Jack Dyke picked up his first win while striking out six Flames. Seven 'Cats picked up hits, two each from Jack Anderson, Michael Trautwein and Steven Hrustich. Kyle Burnett Jr.'s RBI came on a solo home run. It was the second home run of his career and first since hitting one at Texas exactly two years to the day on Mar. 3, 2018
Best Bullpen in the Big Ten
Senior Sam Lawrence sits atop the Big Ten stats with an ERA of zero and ten strikeouts on the season. Lawrence has left opponents scoreless over 8.1 innings of pitching, one of two players in the Big Ten to do so. The bullpen has now picked up a whopping 59 strikeouts.
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