It’s at this point in the college baseball season — halfway through conference play — when disappointed fans begin to doubt whether their pre-season dreams were just that, dreams. With 15 Big Ten games to go, the book is far from shut on the Wildcats, but their performance against Purdue at home over the weekend certainly didn’t imbue fans with hope for the home stretch. The Boilermakers came into Evanston and cruised to a sweep; across 28 innings, Northwestern held a lead for two of them. It just feels
like the Wildcats can’t get out of their own way: when the pitching delivers, the bats fall flat and when the offense explodes, the arms can’t deliver. I’ve preached all year that the ‘Cats excel in the little areas, but you can’t out-hustle the second worst run differential in the Big Ten. So, let’s assess a brutal weekend.
The Good
There wasn’t much “good” across the board for Northwestern this weekend, but save a ninth inning blow-up in the series finale, the arms stayed (mostly) competitive throughout the series. Before that fateful seven-run Boilermaker explosion to seal the sweep, it was death by 1000 paper cuts. James Whitaker fell victim to the long ball, allowing three home runs while only striking out one, but Alex Grant and Drew Dickson held it down later in relief to keep the ‘Cats within striking range. In game two, the 6’6 righty Matt Kouser shined, allowing just one earned run and zero extra-base hits through six innings. Walks continue to limit Kouser’s length, as he leads the Big Ten in free passes allowed, but the stuff and frame is there for him to be a major arm going forward for the ‘Cats.
I know, the story sounds awfully similar to how it did going into the season, where young arms making a leap with their command and execution will be the x-factor, but those were rooted in the athletic nature of this pitching staff. It’s difficult to feel great about the ‘Cats pitching staff for the rest of the season, let alone 2027, given their inconsistency, but I still believe that some big leaps forward from just a few guys could seriously flip that narrative on its head.
The Bad
Northwestern got out-hit by Purdue 32-25 and out-scored 22-8. It seems almost unfathomable that a team could get outscored by double the margin they get out-hit, it goes against so many of the most fundamental tenets of good offense like getting on-base and “not trying to do too much.” However, the extra-base hit margin over the weekend ended at 13-4 in favor of the Boilermakers…that mostly sums it up. For much of the season, Northwestern hitters weren’t hitting for average or walking but the damage output and high slugging percentage relative to their contact metrics buoyed them as a middling Big Ten offense. If the slug isn’t there, it will get ugly fast and we’ll likely see more sweeps as the season continues.
Despite the lackluster performance from a power standpoint, the ‘Cats still rank fourth in conference in home runs and eighth in doubles, both respectable positions, especially for a bottom-of-the-standings squad. Did the Purdue hitters crack the code on how to attack Northwestern hitters to limit their power or was it just an off series for the Wildcats big bats? All Northwestern fans should be praying for the latter, because when a home-run dependent team stops hitting homeruns…
The Best
It was always a matter of “when” not “if” Jack Lausch would get hot. The ‘Cats clean-up hitter stuffed the stat sheet over the weekend, showcasing the unique, all-around offensive profile he brings to the lineup. The strikeouts, which were a major issue to start the season, have subsided as Lausch walked as many times as he punched out against the Boilermakers. He went deep once, notched two multi-hit games and stole a base. When he’s on, Lausch is the type of offensive contributor that can start rallies with an eight-pitch walk or deposit one over the seats to cap a big inning and if the ‘Cats want to get back right against Michigan, they will need him to keep seeing the ball well.
Yet, despite Lausch’s dominance, the weekend will go down as a major disappointment for Northwestern. The ‘Cats have put themselves far behind the 8-ball, sitting in a tie for the second-worst Big Ten record through 15 conference games. The lapses in performance are clear and numerous and the road back to winning Big Ten baseball games starts in Ann Arbor on Friday.
