‘Cats defeat Indiana in rubber game to win first Big Ten series
For the first time since 2006, Northwestern baseball defeated Indiana in a series, winning 13-6 on Sunday and beating the Hoosiers in consecutive games. In a game that lasted three hours and 49 minutes and featured 10 pitchers, 16 walks and 363 total pitches thrown, the Wildcats outlasted Indiana to pick up the series victory on the road.
Each team won tightly contested, one-run affairs in the first two games of the weekend, and Game 3 started in a similar way, with IU’s Nathan Stahl and Northwestern’s Grant Comstock firing scoreless first innings. Stahl lost control in the second inning, however, allowing the ‘Cats to strike first.
Stahl struck out Alex Calarco to start the second, but after issuing three straight walks to Vincent Bianchina, Andrew Pinkston and Stephen Hrustich, he was pulled from the game. Ryan Kraft punched out Tony Livermore to record the second out, but J.C. Santini made the Hoosiers pay for the walks by launching a grand slam home run to left field, his second homer of the year.
Indiana scored a single run in the bottom of the second to decrease the deficit. Comstock, making his first start of the season, walked Josh Pynes and surrendered an RBI double to Brock Tibbitts. Following a walk and a flyout, Santini picked off Carter Mathison at first base, and Comstock escaped the inning with Northwestern leading 4-1.
In the bottom of the third, Matthew Ellis took Comstock deep with a solo blast to right-center field. Ellis’ 12th home run of the season, which leads the Big Ten Conference, was his first of the series, giving him a home run in six of Indiana’s seven weekend series this season.
Much like IU’s starter, Kraft had accuracy issues in the top of the fourth, plunking three Wildcats, the last of which hit Ethan O’Donnell on his left forearm and allowed a run to score. Hoosiers’ head coach Jeff Mercer then went back to his bullpen, and Braydon Tucker struck out Anthony Calarco to end a Northwestern scoring threat.
Comstock retired the first two hitters he faced in the bottom of the fourth, but a pair of two-out singles ended his outing. Junior right-hander Jack Sauser entered the game in his first game action in over a month, and after a walk, he sent down Bobby Whalen to close the inning.
The Wildcats received some assistance from Mother Nature in the top of the fifth to extend their lead. With Bianchina on second and Pinkston on first, Hrustich skied a fly ball to shallow left field. Mathison, IU’s left fielder, and shortstop Phillip Glasser both lost the ball in the sunshine, resulting in a two-run double for Hrustich to make it 7-2.
Northwestern’s Kellen Pate retired the Hoosiers in order in the bottom of the fifth, and the Wildcat bats knocked out another Indiana pitcher in the next inning. Tucker walked Santini, and O’Donnell beat out an infield single with a headfirst dive. Anthony Calarco then split the left-center field gap with a double, scoring both Santini and O’Donnell.
.@NUCatsBaseball is rolling at Indiana! 🤙 pic.twitter.com/EZ5sBGDWO5
— Northwestern On BTN (@NUOnBTN) April 3, 2022
Pate walked the first three batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Josh Reynolds called upon southpaw Parker Hanks for the first time this season to quell the rally. Hanks did just that, inducing three consecutive groundouts, and while Indiana scored two runs to narrow the gap to 9-4, he kept the Hoosiers from a big inning.
The ‘Cats got back on the scoreboard in the seventh with run-scoring singles by O’Donnell and Anthony Calarco. Hanks recorded a single out in the bottom of the frame, then Reynolds made his final pitching change of the game by bringing David Utagawa in. Hunter Jessee stroked an RBI single to give IU their fifth run, but Sam Murrison ended the inning by flying out.
In the ninth inning, Northwestern tacked on two insurance runs via Ethan O’Donnell’s sixth home run of the season. Utagawa let up a solo home run to Mathison with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but he finished the game by retiring Jessee on a ground out.
The win on Sunday handed Northwestern their first Big Ten opening series win since 2015, when the team defeated Minnesota in two out of three games in Minneapolis. Jack Sauser won his first decision of the year for the Wildcats, and Nathan Stahl took the loss for IU, falling to 0-1 in 2022.
O’Donnell continued his hot streak at the plate, leading Northwestern with three hits in the game. Santini reached base in four of his five plate appearances, walking three times in addition to his second-inning grand slam. Neither team committed an error in the field, although two Wildcat relievers balked.
Northwestern will return home to host UIC on Tuesday in a non-conference matchup. First pitch from Rocky and Berenice Miller Park is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.
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Andrew Polk is a sportswriter and graduate student at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Polk is a graduate of Macalester College, where he played for the school's Division-III baseball team.