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By Chris Gentilviso The Daily Northwestern
After dropping a lopsided game one against Iowa on Friday, Northwestern coach Paul Stevens' message to his team was to play with energy and enthusiasm. With their 14th conference loss - three more than all of last season - the Wildcats were reeling.
But 48 hours later, energy and enthusiasm quickly turned to frustration. For the second weekend in a row, NU (10-29, 3-17 Big Ten) was swept at the hands of a Big Ten rival. The four losses to Iowa marked the first time since 2000 the Hawkeyes (22-15, 11-8) took a series from the Cats.
"There's a lot of would'ves, should'ves, could'ves, ifs, ands and buts," Stevens said. "But at the end of the day, we were still a little bit short."
Through seven innings Friday, NU was right where it wanted to be - tied 6-6 after Antonio Mulé's solo homer and Mike Kalina's groundout brought the Cats back from a two-run deficit.
But without taking the bat off their shoulders, the Hawkeyes were set to reclaim the lead for good. Senior Andrew Smith walked the first three batters he faced in the eighth, prompting the first of four Cats pitching changes in the final two innings.
Three pitches later, Iowa outfielder Matt Wooldrik slapped a double off freshman David Jensen, scoring two runs to seal the victory. The Hawkeyes tagged on eight more runs, taking game one of the series, 16-6.
"The score didn't sit well with the whole scenario," Stevens said. "At the end of the day, it's a loss whether you got beat by three or 10 runs. I have to keep taking positives out and keep building with these guys."
Stevens' offense kept supplying him with those positives, as NU scored 34 runs in the series - more than double the output of any other conference set in 2007.
But poor defense and the bullpen's shortcomings dug the Cats deep holes. Of the 58 runs scored by Iowa, nine came across via errors, six scored off Hawkeyes runners inherited by the Cats' relievers and 21 were allowed by the bullpen itself.
With starter Dan Schwartz long gone after yielding a season-high 11 runs in three innings, NU found itself down 12-8 entering the final inning of game one on Saturday. Needing one more out to get out of the inning, a throwing error by senior catcher Geoff Dietz extended the Hawkeyes' final inning, allowing them to tag on three more runs.
"Everyone's trying to make the plays," Dietz said of the 11 errors committed by the Cats in the series. "We're not individually frustrated with each other. We're frustrated that things aren't going right."
Holding a team-best 3.93 ERA in Big Ten games, freshman Cole Livermore looked to stop the bleeding in the second game Saturday. With the Cats holding a 7-5 lead through four innings, the freshman couldn't contain Iowa in the fifth. The Hawkeyes plated four runs on three straight RBI singles and a sacrifice fly, taking a 9-7 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.
"The baseball gods are not looking on us well right now," Livermore said. "Hopefully we can change it around."
Game four starter Joe Muraski echoed similar prayers, after three-run home runs by outfielder Travis Sweet and catcher Ben Geelan put the clamps on his fourth consecutive loss Sunday. The lefty has been plagued by the long ball in his first college season, yielding a team-high seven home runs in six starts.
In Stevens' 20 seasons at the helm for NU, the Cats have never lost more than 20 Big Ten games in a season. Despite the words of hope for change among the team's youth, a 3-17 conference record has bred a sense of urgency among the team's seniors.
"You never want to go out on a losing note, so the more we win, the better we go out," Schwartz said. "I don't want to be part of the team that's remembered as the losingest team in Northwestern history. The more we win, the better."
Reach Chris Gentilviso at c-gentilviso@northwestern.edu.
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