It will be a tale of two teams on the pitching mound this weekend when IU (23-16, 8-4) welcomes last-place Northwestern (10-30, 2-13) for a three-game conference series.
The struggling Wildcats enter the series as losers of their last six consecutive conference games, with just one win in the last 13. A sweep for the Hoosiers would be very beneficial because IU is only two games back from first place Minnesota.
Due to inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday, a double header has been scheduled for Friday starting at 3 p.m., with the series final Sunday. IU Coach Chris Lemonis said he hopes to get the offense going again after leaving nine runners on base last game against Notre Dame.
“We’re not getting an average at-bat. We’re getting a really bad at-bat in those situations,” Lemonis said after the Notre Dame game. “Getting a better pitch and our swings going a little bit, we’ve got good hitters they just didn’t have a good night.”
After getting rained out Wednesday, IU will return home for the first time since April 17, when they fell to Iowa in extra innings. That snapped a six-game home win-streak for the Hoosiers, but they still remain eight games above .500 in Bloomington this season. Returning home after playing five consecutive games away will be a major advantage for the club.
Northwestern’s main struggle this season has been on the mound. As a group, the Wildcats own a 6.22 ERA on the year and are even worse in conference games with a 6.90 ERA.
The Hoosiers, on the other hand, own the second-best ERA in the league, have allowed 130 less runs than Northwestern in the season and have racked up about 80 more strikeouts.
While these two teams are fairly comparable at the plate, the Hoosiers are still outgaining the Wildcats by more than 20 runs scored while also relying on the long ball more often.
Although the IU lineup hasn’t produced eye-popping numbers, the pitching staff has been the backbone of this club. Unlike Northwestern’s pitching staff, IU’s pitchers have kept the Hoosiers in position to compete with the rest of the conference.
“This is Indiana, and we’re a pitching school,” junior relief pitcher Thomas Belcher said. “Ever since the Omaha year, we’ve had guys step up and pitch well every single year. You always think it’s going to be tough losing guys, but the next guy steps up and he’s just as good.”
IU has been fortunate to have the type of production they’ve gotten from every arm this season. Six Hoosiers have tossed at least 25 innings this season and own better ERAs than Northwestern’s top pitcher Danny Katz, who owns a 3.08 ERA.
With Katz doing all of his work out of the bullpen, the Wildcats have resorted to 10 different players to start games for them. Struggling to find stability in their rotation, the three Wildcats with the most starts have a combined 5.23 ERA.
The low-quality arms for Northwestern give IU reason to break out offensively this weekend and sweep the Wildcats to boost its postseason résumé as much as possible.
“I’m a little biased,” junior outfielder Craig Dedelow said. “I think we have a good resume as of right now. Obviously we’re going to have to keep building on it, but if we keep taking care of business like we’re supposed to we’ll be good at the end of the year.”
