Northwestern University Athletics
Thursday, May 14
Evanston, Ill.
3 p.m. CT
Northwestern
vs
Rutgers
'Cats Close Out Regular Season Play against Rutgers
5/13/2026 2:04:00 PM | Baseball
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern closes out regular season play this weekend when it hosts Rutgers for a three-game series at Miller Park. Thursday and Friday's games will start at 3 p.m. CT, while the regular season finale will take place Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT. All three games will air on B1G+.
Probable Pitchers
Thursday, May 14: NU – LHP Ryan Weaver vs. Rutgers – RHP Zack Konstantinovsky
Friday, May 15: NU – RHP Matt Kouser vs. Rutgers – RHP Vincent Borghese
Saturday, May 16: NU – TBA vs. Rutgers –TBA
The Wildcats (20-28-1, 7-20 Big Ten) enter the final weekend series of the season as winners of seven straight at Miller Park. In those seven victories, NU is scoring 10.1 runs per game.B1G Weekend at Miller Park ?? pic.twitter.com/MY9lPac10Y
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) May 12, 2026
Northwestern ranks seventh in the Big Ten and 55th nationally in home runs per game (1.35). NU's 66 home runs in 2026 rank tied for second most in a single season in program history, seven behind the program record 73, set in 2025. The Wildcats are one of two teams in the Big Ten to have seven different players with six or more home runs (Oregon).
The 'Cats rank 30th nationally with an .879 fielding percentage. NU has ranked in the top 25 in fielding percentage in each of its first two seasons under Sidney and Mildred LaPidus Head Baseball Coach Ben Greenspan.
RHP Matt Kouser is coming off three consecutive quality starts and has turned in four quality starts over his last five appearances. In those five appearances, Kouser has posted a 4.34 earned-run average in 29.0 innings pitched.
INF Owen McElfatrick ranks in the top ten in Northwestern program history in the following categories: home runs (second, 35), at-bats (sixth, 754), runs (10th, 140), walks (ninth, 92) and total bases (sixth, 357). McElfatrick is one home run away from tying Eric Mogentale (1981-84) for the program lead.
Senior OF Jack Lausch is currently the team leader in home runs with 14, which is good for 11th in the conference. Lausch also leads the team in batting average (.310), OPS (1.033), RBI (39), hits (58), doubles (13) and triples (3). In the last eight games, he has launched five home runs and recorded 10 RBI.
NU leads the all-time series 10-8 against Rutgers (24-27, 11-16 Big Ten), with this weekend marking the third consecutive series between the two schools in Evanston.
Redshirt sophomore RHP Zack Konstantinovsky is 4-5 with a 5.52 ERA and is tied for the conference lead in starts (13). Konstantinovsky is also sixth in the Big Ten in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.11), seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (11.04) and eighth in strikeouts (74). Senior catcher Trey Wells is the team leader in batting average (.302), hits (57) and doubles (10).
Players Mentioned
RHP
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OF
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INF
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LHP
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Sunday, May 03
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Saturday, May 02
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