May 12, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern baseball team hosts Ohio State this weekend at Rocky Miller Park in a crucial four-game conference series. The two teams are fighting for position in the Big Ten's postseason tournament. Currently, Ohio State is fifth with a 11-10 conference mark, while the Wildcats are 10-14 and tied for seventh with Penn State. OSU is riding an eight-game win streak, which includes seven Big Ten wins in a row. NU won a mid-week game against Illinois-Chicago 14-2, but dropped all four games last weekend at Illinois.
The last time Northwestern and Ohio State actually played at Rocky Miller Park was in 1998. The two teams split a four-game series. The Buckeyes won games one and four and NU swept the Saturday doubleheader. NU and OSU were scheduled to play in Evanston in 2003, but they decided to play at IMG Academy Park in Bradenton, Fla., instead. It was considered a home series for the Wildcats.
Coming off a four-game sweep of Penn State--a team which beat NU three times--the Buckeyes are led by fifth-year senior Mike Rabin. The outfielder leads the Buckeyes with a .346 average in 40 starts. Junior infielder Jedidiah Stephen is a close second with a .336 average. Stephen is second on the team with 36 RBI. He trails senior Paul Farinacci, who has knocked in 42 runs.
As a team, OSU is fourth in the Big Ten with a .309 batting average, one point higher than the Wildcats. Thirteen different Buckeyes have started at least 10 games.
On the mound for the Buckeyes, seniors Matt Madsen and Trent Luyster each have a team high five wins. Sophomore left-hander Dan DeLucia leads the squad with a 2.86 ERA in 10 starts. He has thrown 63.0 innings this season. Right-handers Rory Meister and Trey Fausnaugh each have a team high three saves. Fausnaugh has thrown 26.2 innings in 22 appearances while Meister has thrown 34.1 innings in 18 trips to the mound.
As a pitching staff, the Buckeyes have a Big Ten best 3.96 ERA. The staff as a whole has given up only 104 base-on-balls in 352.1 innings pitched, a league best. Illinois is the next closest team with 114 in 290.2 innings pitched.
Catcher Pat McMahon added nine more hits last week to his rising total of 72 so far this season. The junior needs just nine hits to tie the Northwestern single-season hits record of 81. With those nine hits, McMahon raised his average to a Big Ten leading .419 (72-for-172). A Wildcat hitter has not hit .400 for a season since Mark Loretta hit .408 (75-for-184) in 1993. Loretta was named Big Ten Player of the Year that season. McMahon is second in the Big Ten with 16 doubles.
Left fielder Anthony Wycklendt is second on the team with a .329 batting average. He has raised his average nine points in the last five games. Wycklendt leads NU and is third in the Big Ten with nine home runs. He also has a team-best 44 RBI, which is tied for sixth in the league.
Senior shortstop Jon Mikrut is blazing his way toward a .300 batting average. In the past 11 games, Mikrut is the Wildcats hottest hitter, which explains how his .238 batting average has turned into a .290 batting average. In his last 46 at-bats, he has hit safely 24 times, which includes seven doubles, two triples and two home runs. Not to mention the 18 RBI and 14 runs scored.
As a team, NU is hitting .308. They average over 10 hits and six runs per game.