By Jake Simpson The Daily Northwestern
Two thumbs up.
That was coach Paul Stevens' reaction after Northwestern's long-dormant bats finally came to life, leading the Wildcats to a 10-7 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday.
The win snapped a five-game losing streak for NU (10-25), which captured its first midweek win since an 11-5 victory over Illinois State 348 days ago.
"The guys finally stepped up and executed in different situations like they needed to," Stevens said.
The Cats came into the game desperately needing a "W" to ease the sting of a 0-4 weekend against Big Ten rival Penn State. In those contests, NU repeatedly failed to execute in key moments, squandering two late-inning leads in the process.
But on Tuesday, the Cats came up with big plays throughout the game. After falling behind 1-0, NU scored two runs in the second inning on junior Max Mann's two-out double, grabbing a lead it would not relinquish.
In the third, the Cats showed off a newfound aggressiveness on the bases that would become the hallmark of the game. With one out, Stevens had senior Caleb Fields, a .302 hitter, bunt junior Antonio Mulé to second to set up senior Mike Kalina, a .197 hitter. The unorthodox gamble paid off, as Kalina stroked the first pitch into left center field for an RBI double.
After leaving 23 runners on base in the Penn State series, the two-out hit was a welcome change for NU.
"We've been struggling a little bit - a lot, actually," junior Aaron Newman said. "So it was really nice to see us executing at the plate."
Freshman pitcher Matt Diedrich protected the Cats' lead. Diedrich gave up only one run in the first five innings despite walking eight batters.
When he did get ahead in the count, the freshman was able to baffle the Panthers' hitters on the way to his first career win.
"When you're ahead (in the count), you can really mess with a hitter," Diedrich said.
In the sixth, UW-Milwaukee (9-23) scored three runs to cut the NU lead to 5-4. Undaunted, the Cats responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
Mulé provided the big blow with his fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot that gave the Cats an 8-4 lead.
"I sat on the 0-2 curveball, was fortunate to keep my hands back long enough and just put a good swing on it," Mulé said.
Mulé finished the day 3 for 4 with two RBIs, anchoring a lineup that notched its highest run total in a month. The top of the Cats' order led the charge, as NU's No. 1 through No. 6 hitters went 11 for 23.
"The guys behind me are hitting the ball so well that right now, I feel like if I get on that it's an automatic run," said Newman, who led off.
The Cats added two eighth-inning insurance runs on consecutive wild pitches from UW-Milwaukee's Matt Holzheuter to take a 10-4 lead.
In the ninth, the Panthers rallied, scoring three runs to cut the deficit to 10-7. With two outs and the tying run at the plate, fears of another late-inning collapse silenced the NU faithful at Rocky Miller Park. But freshman reliever David Jensen retired the Panthers' cleanup hitter, Grant Berkovitz, on a flyout to center to seal the win.
Newman said the Cats - victorious for only the second time in their last 12 games - had put their late-game jitters behind them.
"I know people in the stands were thinking we were going to blow it again, but we're past that now," he said. "We're on to bigger and better things."
Reach Jake Simpson at james-simpson@northwestern.edu.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!