As Northwestern opened its Big Ten season against Purdue, the Wildcats were headed the wrong direction. Coach Paul Stevens' squad entered the series having dropped five consecutive games, but the Cats managed to win one of four matchups with the Boilermakers this past weekend.
It was only the Cats' fifth win in the month-old season and their first in Big Ten play.
The Cats pulled off an 11-3 win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader in West Lafayette, Ind.
"That game was very important to our team," sophomore first baseman Jake Goebbert said.
The top of the batting order put pressure on Purdue's pitching staff early on. Kyle Cook took the mound for the Boilermakers and allowed two runs in the first inning off big hits by senior outfielder Aaron Newman, senior infielder Jake Owens and Goebbert.
Cook had entered the contest having allowed a single run in 13.1 innings this season.
NU's first three batters continued to beat up on Purdue pitchers throughout the game. Newman, Owens and Goebbert went a combined 11-for-11 with nine RBIs and nine runs scored. Goebbert finished with six RBIs, matching his career high.
"We had got shut out the day before and we know our team is a good offensive team, so we didn't want that to happen again," Goebbert said. "The six RBIs are more of a credit to my teammates who got on base then it is to me."
Freshman pitcher Erik Jokisch, who has a 3.86 ERA, threw his third complete game of the season and picked up his second win. He allowed only three runs on five hits and struck out five.
Saturday's win was the Cats' first victory since March 14. NU's 5-3 loss to Illinois-Chicago in the second game of a doubleheader that day began a 2-9 stretch for the Cats.
"Those losses give us some frustration, but the only thing we can do right now is to use that frustration to produce some momentum and success," Owens said.
The Cats' offense, which helped notch convincing wins early in the season against Oklahoma State and Cal State Northridge, has not been as potent in recent weeks. NU mustered only one run in two games against Northern Iowa, to the Panthers' eight.
2008 Woodie Awards
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Aaron
posted 4/01/08 @ 3:28 AM CST
One of the main reasons NU hit a bit of a slump on offense is that Mike Kalina has been hurt for a couple of hits. He started the year on fire and earned Big Ten Player of the Week after the series against CAL State Northridge. (Continued…)
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