Despite an early lead thanks to solid starting pitching, Northwestern fell apart late to drop yet another game in the Pacific time zone.
Following its series loss to Oregon, the ‘Cats (8-12, 2-4 B1G) stayed in the beaver state to play the Portland Pilots (15-7, 3-0 WCC) on Monday night. The Pilots entered the game on a seven-game winning streak and stayed hot despite Ryan Weaver and Noah Ruiz’s best efforts for NU. A five-run seventh inning spurred Portland’s 8-3 win over Northwestern.
Early on, the
‘Cats’ pitching and defense dominated. Weaver started the game for NU and threw four innings of shutout baseball. He tallied four strikeouts on the night, including punching out the side in the bottom of the first. Despite some traffic on the basepaths in the second and fourth innings, Weaver allowed just two hits in his second scoreless outing of the year.
Through the first four innings, Northwestern’s offense fluctuated. The first four Wildcat hitters went down in order, but the lineup started to put pressure on Portland’s starter, Carter Gaston, in the bottom of the second. An Owen McElfatrick single followed by a hit-by-pitch set Northwestern up with runners on first and second with only one out. First baseman Ruiz then drove the ball through the left side of the infield to score the first run of the ballgame. Despite a passed ball in the following at-bat, the ‘Cats couldn’t capitalize any further in the second inning.
After four, the ‘Cats led 1-0 and decided to switch things up by handing the ball to first-year reliever James Whitaker. Whitaker punched out two Pilot batters in the fifth en route to working a one-two-three inning.
However, a stagnant NU offense eliminated any rest Whitaker may have hoped for, so he was back out immediately for the sixth. In his second inning of work, Whitaker surrendered a single and a walk before being replaced by fellow first-year Justin Fryer.
Upon entering the game, Fryer promptly allowed a two-run double to left-center to Trey Swygart. He prevented any further damage, but the Pilots held a 2-1 lead after six innings of play.
Following another disappointing half inning of zero baserunners for the Wildcat offense, NU made another pitching change for the bottom of the seventh. Tommy Bridges took the mound, yet was met with subpar defense from his teammates. Two consecutive infield errors and then a walk set the Pilots up with the bases loaded and nobody out. Bridges struck out the next batter before the ‘Cats turned to first-year Dominic DeLoreto, who hadn’t allowed an earned run all season.
However, DeLoreto couldn’t play the hero role that the Wildcats needed as he hit the first batter he faced and then allowed a single and a double to Cody Nitowitz and Jonas Salk. A strikeout finally ended the inning with Portland leading 7-1, with all five runs to cross the plate in the seventh scored as unearned.
Portland’s Kaden Segel finally replaced Carter Gaston in the eighth after seven innings of one-run ball. Gaston, who has an ERA of 0.81 on the season, tallied five strikeouts and only allowed four hits in the game.
The ‘Cats were jubilant to see a new pitcher on the mound as Jackson Freeman homered in the first at bat post-Gaston. The Wildcats didn’t score again in the eighth, but Freeman upped his season totals to four home runs and eight RBIs with an average of .326.
Jack Counsell’s double in the ninth inning pushed Ruiz across the plate for Northwestern’s third run of the game, but it was too little too late as another Portland run put the finishing touches on an 8-3 victory for the Pilots.
Northwestern won’t travel far for its next game, as it heads to Washington for a three-game series beginning March 27th. Like NU, Washington is a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team, so the series is important as both teams look to climb the conference ranks.
