Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
12-15-1, 5-7
Michigan State
10-19, 5-10
Northwestern Takes Series over Michigan State with 8-6 Win in Series Finale
4/5/2026 8:34:00 PM | Baseball
Eight different Wildcats registered an RBI in the win, NU's second game this season with eight different players notching an RBI (Feb. 20 vs. Cornell).
LHP Ryan Weaver delivered his third quality start of the season, allowing two runs in 6.0 innings of work, striking out three.Protected Our House ?? pic.twitter.com/xp54hwC36u
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) April 5, 2026
OF Jackson Freeman got Northwestern (12-15-1, 5-7 Big Ten) on the board in the bottom of the first with an opposite-field home run, his seventh of the season and second in as many days. OF Jack Lausch extended NU's early lead with an RBI double to left-center, scoring INF Ryan Kucherak to put NU up 2-0.
MSU (10-19, 5-10 Big Ten) and Northwestern traded runs in the fourth, keeping NU's lead at two heading into the top of the fifth, when MSU trimmed the Wildcat lead to 3-2.
INF Noah Ruiz blasted a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth, collecting his team-high 22nd RBI of the season to stretch NU's lead to 4-2.
The Spartans used a pair of solo homers in the seventh and eighth to knot the game up at four.
The 'Cats responded immediately, as Kucherak led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to retake a 5-4 lead. An RBI single by INF Jack Counsell, a bases-loaded walk by OF Logan de Groot, and an RBI groundout by INF Owen McElfatrick to extend NU's advantage to 8-4.
MSU got a pair of runs back in the ninth before LHP Justin Fryer (3-1) closed out the 8-6 victory.KUCHERAK GOES YARD. 'CATS LEAD ?? pic.twitter.com/IqdDPsiJ3k
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) April 5, 2026
Northwestern will make the short trip to UIC for a midweek on Tuesday evening at 5:05 p.m. CT before returning to Evanston for a weekend series against Purdue.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fryer, Justin (3-1)
L: Rudolph,Kyle (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Sturgess,Isaac 1
HR: Murphy,Dayton 1 ; Bright,Noah 1
RBI: Murphy,Dayton 3 ; Seymour,Randy 1 ; Bright,Noah 2
SH: Thomas,Khamaree 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Murphy,Dayton 1 ; Sturgess,Isaac 1 ; Deckinga,CJ 2 ; Bright,Noah 2
HBP: Murphy,Dayton 1 ; Sturgess,Isaac 1 ; McKay,Ryan 1
Batting:
2B: McElfatrick, Owen 1 ; Lausch, Jack 1 ; Barron, Nick 1
HR: Freeman, Jackson 1 ; Kucherak, Ryan 1 ; Ruiz, Noah 1
RBI: McElfatrick, Owen 1 ; Freeman, Jackson 1 ; Kucherak, Ryan 1 ; Lausch, Jack 1 ; Ruiz, Noah 1 ; Counsell, Jack 1 ; Slater, Jay 1 ; de Groot, Logan 1
SH: Counsell, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Freeman, Jackson 1 ; Kucherak, Ryan 2 ; Lausch, Jack 1 ; Ruiz, Noah 2 ; Barron, Nick 1 ; Counsell, Jack 1
CS: Lausch, Jack 1
HBP: Slater, Jay 1
