Rapid Reaction: Indiana stomps Northwestern 9-2 at Wrigley Field

The fourth annual “Cat Classic” kicked off on an evening with temperatures as high as 43 degrees, with the setting sun in the background. The cold weather didn’t stop fans from heading to Wrigleyville. A crowd in purple sweaters and beanies gathered on the third-base side, while Indians supporters countered in red along the first-base line. Ryan Weaver started for Northwestern and pitched five innings, allowing six hits and five runs while striking out six. Sam Hliboki pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

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Meanwhile, Indiana starter Tony Neubeck tossed six innings, walking four Cats while striking out seven.

The Indians’ offense took an early hit on Weaver. Indiana’s Hogan Denny had a leadoff double in the top of the first inning, followed by Jake Hanley’s single to right field and Jackson Freeman’s clean ball to third.

With runners on the corners and no one out, Owen Ten’s sacrifice fly brought home Danny to complete the first run of the game. Weaver then went all-in, getting a strikeout and a flyout to put Indiana up 1-0.

NU’s only runner in the bottom of the first inning was Ryan Kucherak, who reached the ball on a throwing error by shortstop Cooper Malamazian. Otherwise, the cats went off quietly.

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In the top of the second inning, the lead runner again reached home plate from Weaver and advanced to third on two sacrifice grounders. Weaver had a key strikeout, forcing Landon Frye to third.

With no outs in the second inning, Freeman got NU’s first hit of the game, and DeGroot walked to load the bases, putting Freeman in scoring position. Shane Hofstadler hit a grounder to third base and the inning ended with a whimper.

The Wildcats had several vaunted turnovers in the third inning, and Indiana made them pay for each one. Weaver induced a swinging strikeout, but a passed ball allowed Hogan to load the bases first and Indiana’s lead runner on three straight innings. Two wild pitches then pushed Hogan all the way to third.

The Hoosiers immediately took advantage as Jake Hanley’s single to right field scored Hogan and ten Oever, followed by a double to left center and Green Ivy to bring Hanley home, 3-0 Indiana.

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Indiana’s offense didn’t stop there. Weaver hit the batter to load the second runner on base, and Landon Frye drove both of them to center field on a single. The Northwestern left-hander trapped Frye on base with two consecutive grounders, but the damage was done. The Cats found themselves trailing 5-0 early after IU went on a four-run run.

Meanwhile, Newbaker continued to stifle Northwestern’s offense, pitching a scoreless inning on a leadoff walk by Owen McElfatrick.

Weaver and the defense had their cleanest game in the fourth inning. The graduate student opened the inning with a strikeout, and although Danny hit a single, Hofstadler caught him trying to steal second in the dirt. Weaver then struck out for the second time in the inning, keeping the score at 5-0.

In the bottom half, NU extended its hitting streak to four innings as Jake Yang hit a single to left field. With two outs, DeGroot moved Young into scoring position with a single, but Hofstadler hoisted a high foul popup near the Wildcats’ dugout, leaving them empty-handed with four innings to go.

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Weaver pitched a scoreless run in his final inning, capped by a stellar Cats defense that saw McElfatrick lay out a sharp drive and hit a jumper that set up Nick Barron out of the dirt for the final out.

NU put two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth on McElfatrick’s single and Kucherak’s walk, but the Cats again were unable to capitalize, leaving runners on seventh and eighth on base.

Sam Hliboki took the mound for NU in the top of the sixth inning and struck out the first batter he saw. He also appeared to hit the second pitch, but upon review, umpires ruled Moore interfered by bending his knee onto the field, leading to the ejection of IU head coach Jeff Mercer. Hliboki induced a grounder and flyout to end the inning.

Wildcat hitters continued to be suffocated by Newbeck in the bottom half of the sixth inning, with Hofstadler’s strikeout eclipsing his 100-pitch tally. The theme of ill-timed hits continued for NU as it put a runner in scoring position for the fourth time.

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The Indians threatened to extend their lead in the seventh inning with a single to load the bases. Hliboki held his ground, knocking out Frye and Carl Gates to keep the Cat’s ground.

Newbeck’s replacement, Jacob Vogel, finally struck in the seventh inning. McElfatrick continued his strong night with a double and Kucherak’s double moved him to third. The Wildcats finished third for the first time Friday night.

Noah Ruiz had two RBI singles for McElfatrick and Kucherak to make it 5-2.