Northwestern
Maryland
’Cats Look to Continue Strong Play, Host Maryland
4/11/2019 10:44:00 AM | Baseball
| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL: GAME-DAY INFO | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | ONLINE STREAM | RADIO STREAM | LIVE STATS |
| Friday, April 12 | Maryland | 3:30 p.m. | Miller Park | BTN Plus on BTN2Go | WNUR | NUsports |
| Saturday, April 13 | Maryland | 11 a.m. | Miller Park | BTN Plus on BTN2Go | WNUR | NUsports |
| Saturday, April 13 | Maryland | ~2:30 p.m. | Miller Park | BTN Plus on BTN2Go | WNUR | NUsports |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern |
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EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern is set to host its second Big Ten home series of the season against Maryland this weekend.
WEATHER UPDATE: Due to inclement conditions, the two teams will play one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game will start at 11:00 a.m. and the second will start approx. 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, April 12
Maryland: RHP Hunter Parsons (5-2, 2.21 ERA)
Northwestern: LHP Quinn Lavelle (3-3, 4.08 ERA)
Saturday, April 13 (G1)
Maryland: RHP Zach Thompson (1-4, 5.04 ERA)
Northwestern: RHP Mike Doherty (2-0, 6.35 ERA)
Saturday, April 13 (G2)
Maryland: RHP Trevor LaBonte (1-3, 4.63 ERA)
Northwestern: TBD
News and notes...
DON'T LOOK NOW: Northwestern is over .500, owning a 15-14 record ... The Wildcats have won 10 of their last 12 games and are 9-1 over their last 10 contests ... The 'Cats have swept back-to-back weekend series, including taking three games in Columbus in NU's first Big Ten road trip.
PUTTING UP NUMBERS: Over NU's last 10 games, both the offense and pitching have been exceptional ... Northwestern's bats have combined for a .313 batting average and an .843 OPS, led in part by a .432 batting average by Jack Dunn and a .429 batting average by Alex Erro ... NU's pitchers have combined for a 2.44 ERA in 88.2 IP and have limited opposing batters to a .201 batting average against.
DOING SOME RECON: The Terrapins are 16-16 this year after splitting their midweek contests against William & Mary (W) and West Virginia (L) ... Maryland is 3-3 in the Big Ten this year and took last weekend's series at Illinois ... The Terrapins own a .226 team batting average and a 4.65 team ERA.
THE BROTHERS ARE GETTING IT DUNN: Senior Jack Dunn and redshirt first-year David Dunn are first and eighth in the Big Ten in batting average, respectively ... Jack is hitting .374, while David is hitting .333 ... NU and Michigan are the only teams to have multiple players in the top-eight in batting average.
NOT DUNN YET: Senior infielder Jack Dunn has started every game since coming to Evanston, a 189-game streak ... He has reached base in 50 of his last 52 games ... He has a hit in 25 of 29 games this season ... His .489 on-base percentage is by far tops in the Big Ten, with the second-best being Michigan's Jordan Nwogu (.467).
HANK THE TANK: Junior starter Hank Christie has been the most effective Wildcat this season at putting the ball in the zone ... Of the 565 pitches he has thrown this season, 372 have been called for strikes (65.8 percent).
SPEED DEMONS: NU has swiped 49 bags, the most in the Big Ten ... Five Wildcats have stolen five or more bases ... Jack Dunn and Ben Dickey both have team-high nine stolen bases.
THIS AND THAT: The Wildcats have hit eight triples, tied for the most in the Big Ten ... Northwestern's .972 fielding percentage (30 E/1,077 TC) is third-best in the Conference.
WHAT A REVELATION: Junior righty Nick Paciorek, after converting from a catcher, has been a tremendous contributor for the Wildcats ... He has three saves in 12 appearances, totaling 13.0 IP ... He has a 34.5 percent strikeout rate, the best mark on the squad and the sixth-best in the Big Ten (min. 50 BF) ... Opposing batters are hitting .156 against Paciorek and own a .200 opposing slugging percentage.
WHEN IT MATTERS MOST: Senior infielder Jack Dunn is hitting a team-best .533 (16-for-30) with runners in scoring position ... His .480 clip (12-for-25) with two outs is the best mark for the Wildcats this season ... His brother David's .471 (16-for-34) mark is the second-best.
POP TIME: Rookie backstop Michael Trautwein has been effective behind the plate, as he has a 38.9 caught stealing percentage this season ... Trautwein retired all four would-be base stealers in the Purdue series ... Ten of NU's 15 wins have come with Trautwein behind the plate.
SUCCESS ON THE BUMP: Sophomore southpaw Quinn Lavelle has made eight starts, five of which have been quality starts ... Eight of his 21 total earned runs allowed this season came in one start at Kent State ... Not counting that effort, he would have a 2.53 ERA ... In five out of his eight starts, he has allowed one or fewer runs ... He has allowed only one home run in 46.1 innings pitched and has induced a team-best four double plays.
THIS ONLY INTERESTS ME: In 107 at-bats (third-most on the team), Jack Dunn has only struck out looking twice.
PATIENT AT THE PLATE: Eight Wildcats — Jack Anderson, Willie Bourbon, Anthony Calarco, Ben Dickey, David Dunn, Jack Dunn, Jack Kelly, and Charlie Maxwell — average seeing 4.0-plus pitchers per plate appearance ... Calarco's average of 4.6 pitches per plate appearance led all 'Cats.
A BIT ABOUT THE SKIP: Spencer Allen is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Northwestern baseball team ... He was named the 26th head baseball coach in NU history on June 14, 2015 ... In 2017, Allen led the Wildcats to its first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament since 2010 and a run to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game for the first time since 1984.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION: D1Baseball.com picked three 'Cats in their 2019 Draft Big Ten top prospects list — infielders Jack Dunn (No. 25) & Alex Erro (No. 31) plus right-handed pitcher Nick Paciorek (No. 37) ... Outfielder David Dunn is No. 14 on the 2020 list.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Last year, six underclassmen position players made 15 or more starts ... 92 percent of games started by underclassmen pitchers last season led the nation (tied with Georgia Tech) ... Overall, the Wildcats return 22 letterwinners.
WELCOME TO THE 'CATS: On February 5, Allen and his coaching staff announced the addition of six members to the Class of 2023: RHP Jack Dyke (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prep), SS/2B Evan Minarovic (Houston, Texas/The John Cooper School), RHP Coby Moe (Grayslake, Ill./Grayslake Central), RHP Jack Sauser (Bloomington, Ill./University), RHP Reed Smith (Cypress, Texas/The John Cooper School), and INF/OF Luke Tanner (Los Angeles, Calif./Windward School).
THE HOME DIGS: Northwestern's home venue, Rocky & Berenice Miller Park, was opened after renovations on March 30, 2016 ... The extensive renovation features Hayden Clubhouse and the Mogentale Players' Lounge plus a synthetic surface maximizing practice opportunities and minimizing game delays and cancellations.
