May 9, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In its final regular season and Big Ten game of the year, Northwestern dropped a 4-1 decision Sunday to Michigan State at Old College Field. NU split its series with MSU following a 3-2 win for the 'Cats on Saturday.
A quartet of Wildcat miscues led to all four Spartan scores. All six runs scored by MSU in the series were unearned.
With the loss, Northwestern falls to 31-17, 12-8 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats finish the regular season tied for fourth in the conference, one game behind Illinois and Iowa, which tied for second. The finish is NU's best in the Kate Drohan era.
Making her second career start in as many games, freshman Jessica Miller got the Wildcat offense on the board in the second inning, shooting a double into the left-centerfield gap to score Megan Hinck from first base and give NU a 1-0 lead. Miller swatted her first collegiate hit -- also a double -- yesterday against the Spartans.
In the top of the fourth inning, Michigan State put together a three-run inning, capitalizing on a pair of Northwestern errors to take a 3-1 lead. After one Spartan crossed the plate following an overthrow of home, Courtnay Foster walked the bases loaded. Eileen Canney -- yesterday's winner -- then relieved Foster (14-14), coaxing a ground ball that was mishandled, allowing two more MSU runs to score.
The Spartans added another run in the top of the seventh after a throwing error allowed Natalie Furrow to reach base. She later scored on a single by Dayna Feenstra.
Senior Carri Leto singled up the middle to lead off the sixth inning, extending her team-best hitting streak to 13 games. She has hit safely in 22 of NU's last 24 contests. The Wildcats were unable to score in the frame.
Due to an illness, Jamie Dotson made the start at catcher in place of senior J.C. Kira, ending Kira's string of consecutive starts behind the dish for Northwestern at 179 games -- the longest streak in Wildcat history.
Jessica Beech (24-14) went the distance for Michigan State to earn the victory. The win improves the Spartans to 30-23 overall, 8-12 in the conference.
Northwestern will return to action as the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament with a 1:30 p.m. CDT game Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich., against No. 5 seeded Minnesota. The Golden Gophers finished the year with a 10-10 Big Ten record.