Northwestern
Michigan
Northwestern Set For Big Test at Michigan
4/18/2019 1:15:00 PM | Baseball
| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL: GAME-DAY INFO | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | ONLINE STREAM | RADIO STREAM | LIVE STATS |
| Saturday, April 20 | Michigan | 1 p.m. | Ray Fisher Stadium | BTN Plus on BTN2Go | WNUR | MGoBlue.com |
| Sunday, April 21 | Michigan | 11 a.m. | Ray Fisher Stadium | BTN Plus on BTN2Go | WNUR | MGoBlue.com |
| Sunday, April 21 | Michigan | 2:30 p.m. | Ray Fisher Stadium | BTN Plus on BTN2Go | WNUR | MGoBlue.com |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern |
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EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern is set to travel to Michigan to play three games against the Wolverines.
UPDATE: Due to inclement weather, the Wildcats will play a doubleheader on Sunday instead of a game on Friday.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Saturday, April 20
Michigan: LHP Tommy Henry (6-3, 2.94 ERA)
Northwestern: LHP Quinn Lavelle (3-4, 5.36 ERA)
Sunday, April 21
Michigan: RHP Karl Kauffmann (5-3, 2.88 ERA)
Northwestern: RHP Mike Doherty (2-0, 5.31 ERA)
Sunday, April 21
Michigan: RHP Jeff Criswell (3-1, 2.96 ERA)
Northwestern: TBD
News and notes...
FROM THE JUMP: Northwestern has won six of its last 10 and is over .500 in the Big Ten at 5-4 ... The 'Cats are set to play a three-game series at Michigan.
PUTTING UP NUMBERS: Over NU's last 10 games, the offense has been productive ... The squad has combined for a .296 batting average and an .832 OPS ... The Wildcats have also hit seven of their 14 home runs this season over this span.
DOING SOME RECON: The Wolverines are 25-11 and 5-3 in the Big Ten, which is third place in the Conference ... Michigan leads the B1G with a .289 team batting average, highlighted by Jordan Brewer's .364 mark ... The Wolverines' 3.38 ERA is the second best in the B1G, led by Tommy Henry's 2.64 mark.
THE BROTHERS ARE GETTING IT DUNN: Senior Jack Dunn and redshirt first-year David Dunn are first and 15th in the Big Ten in batting average, respectively ... Jack is hitting .374, while David is hitting .320 ... Alex Erro is 12th at .328 ... NU, Nebraska, Illinois, and Michigan are the only teams to have multiple players in the top-15 in batting average.
NOT DUNN YET: Senior infielder Jack Dunn has started every game since coming to Evanston, a 193-game streak ... He has reached base in 53 of his last 56 games ... He has a hit in 28 of 33 games this season ... His .477 on-base percentage is tops in the Big Ten, with the second-best being Michigan's Jordan Nwogu (.472).
MR. 305: Junior infielder Alex Erro has been on a tear in the month of April, hitting a team-best .463 in 41 at-bats ... His .375 batting average in Big Ten play is fifth-best in the Conference ... He has lifted his season batting average to .328, the second-best mark on the team.
SMALL BALL: Jack Dunn has bunted 11 times this season — six of those have been hits, five of those have been sacrifices.
SPEED DEMONS: NU has swiped 55 bags, the most in the Big Ten ... Six Wildcats have stolen five or more bases ... Jack Dunn, Ben Dickey, and Shawn Goosenberg both have team-high nine stolen bases.
THIS AND THAT: Northwestern's batting average this season is .270, the fourth-best mark in the Conference ... The Wildcats have hit 12 triples, the most in the Big Ten ... Northwestern's .972 fielding percentage (34 E/1,229 TC) is second-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 13 appearances, totaling 16.0 IP ... He has a 37.0 percent strikeout rate, the best mark on the squad and the second-best in the Big Ten (min. 50 BF) ... Opposing batters are hitting .164 against Paciorek.
WHEN IT MATTERS MOST: Senior infielder Jack Dunn is hitting a team-best .571 (20-for-35) with runners in scoring position ... His .467 clip (14-for-30) with two outs is the best mark for the Wildcats this season ... His brother David's .435 (17-for-39) mark is the second-best.
POP TIME: Rookie backstop Michael Trautwein has been effective behind the plate, as he has a 43.5 caught stealing percentage this season ... Trautwein retired all four would-be base stealers in the Purdue series ... Eleven of NU's 16 wins have come with Trautwein behind the plate.
SUCCESS ON THE BUMP: Sophomore southpaw Quinn Lavelle has made nine starts, five of which have been quality starts ... In five out of his nine starts, he has allowed one or fewer runs ... He has allowed only one home run in 50.1 innings pitched.
THIS ONLY INTERESTS ME: In 107 at-bats (third-most on the team), Jack Dunn has only struck out looking twice.
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).
PATIENT AT THE PLATE: Seven Wildcats — Jack Anderson, Willie Bourbon, Anthony Calarco, Ben Dickey, David 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.
UP NEXT: Northwestern will host a Tuesday contest against UIC on Tuesday, April 23 ... The contest will be NU's second this year against the Flames.
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.
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