| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL AT CINCINNATI | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | WATCH | LIVE STATS | |
| Saturday, Mar. 20 | Cincinnati | 3 p.m. CT | Cincinnati, Ohio | Watch | Live Stats | |
| Friday, Mar. 21 | Cincinnati | 12 p.m. CT | Cincinnati, Ohio | Watch | Live Stats | |
| Friday, Mar. 22 | Cincinnati | 3 p.m. CT | Cincinnati, Ohio | Watch | Live Stats | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook | ||||||
EVANSTON, Ill. — As the academic quarter comes to a close and the University begins its spring break, Northwestern baseball will take to the road again this time for an eight-game, nine-day swing through the Ohio Valley.
Northwestern (5-11) will begin its spring break trip with a three-game series at Cincinnati (March 19-21) this weekend, before traveling to Northern Kentucky (March 22) and Miami (OH) (March 23) for mid-week matchups. The trip will conclude with the Wildcats opening up Big Ten play at Ohio State on March 25-27.
Sunday's finale against the Buckeyes will be televised to a national audience on the Big Ten Network beginning at 11 a.m. CT.
THE OPPONENT
Cincinnati (6-11)
The Bearcats dropped 11 of its first 12 games of the season, but have since strung together five consecutive wins to enter the Northwestern series with an 6-11 record.
Connor McVey leads Cincinnati with 19 hits this season, while teammate Ryan Noda has driven in a team-high 10 runs. At least three players have tallied multiple hits in five of the team's last six games.
Five different pitchers have recorded wins this season. Andrew Zellner has seen a majority of the starts (4) for the Bearcats and has posted a 3.47 ERA with 12 strikeouts in those outings.
Northwestern leads the all-time series, 5-1.
LAST TIME OUT
Northwestern went 1-2 last weekend at San Diego State. The Wildcats dropped the series opener and the finale, but managed to pick up a 13-7 win in game two. Reed Mason (2-0), who is a native of the San Diego area, earned his second victory of the season after tossing 5.0 innings and striking out four. Sophomore Tommy Bordignon collected his second save of the season in the Wildcats' victory.
Willie Bourbon was stellar against the Aztecs as the freshman second baseman hit .600 (6-for-10) with a .900 slugging percentage in the series and drove in 5 RBIs.
OFFENSIVELY GOOD
Northwestern enters its spring break trip hitting .301 as a team, which ranks 56th in the country and fifth in the Big Ten. The Wildcats have 174 hits on the campaign and have tallied 17 hits in a game on three occasions.
Matt Hopfner (26), Zach Jones (21), Jack Dunn (20) and Joe Hoscheit (20) lead the team in knocks.
HOPPY IS HITTING
Junior outfield Matt Hopfner is leading the team with a .419 batting average in 15 games played. In 62 at bats this season, Hopfner has tallied 26 hits, which leads the Big Ten Conference. The Edina, Minnesota, native is leading the team in extra-base hits (8) and is currently in the midst of a six-game hit streak.
Hopfner has racked up a team-best nine multi-hit games in 2016.
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Northwestern has seen a good amount of production from its freshmen in the early part of the season. Shortstop Jack Dunn, who has started every game this season, is batting .320 with 20 hits and 10 runs scored. Bourbon, who had the break-out performance at San Diego State, is batting .309 in 16 games played this season. The #B1GCats second baseman leads the team with 13 RBIs. Classmate Ben Dickey has seen action in 14 games, 12 of which he started in center field. He is batting .255 with eight runs driven in.
ON THE BUMP
For the series against Cincinnati, Northwestern will start left-handers Mason (2-0) and Hopfner (0-1), while RHP Dan Kubiuk will get the ball in the finale.
Sunday's start will be Hopfner's first since his freshman year. The everyday right fielder for Northwestern has made two appearances this season on the mound, but both came in relief situations. Hopfner picked up a save in Northwestern's 5-1 win over Nevada on Feb. 19.
After making three appearances from the bullpen to start the season, head coach Spencer Allen and his staff made the switch and named Kubiuk a starting pitcher. In two starts this season, the righty has tossed 10.0 innings, allowing two runs, and striking out three to post an ERA of 1.20.