Baseball: Six-run sixth inning carries Northwestern past Milwaukee in midweek tune-up

Coming off yet another conference sweep at Minnesota that extended the Big Ten losing streak to nine, Northwestern needed something — anything — to go its way. And despite it coming against the Milwaukee Panthers of the Horizon League, sometimes all a team needs is to remember what winning feels like.

The Wildcats (17-24-1, 5-16 Big Ten) rode an offensive explosion in the sixth inning to defeat Milwaukee (15-26, 10-8 Horizon) 10-8 at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park on Tuesday. This victory gave NU a much-needed midweek boost before the ‘Cats head to Wrigley Field on Friday for a critical conference series against Indiana.

Senior third baseman Owen McElfatrick set the tone, launching a solo homer on the second pitch he saw to give the ‘Cats an early lead. His career home run mark has now reached 32, putting him alone in second place for most home runs in program history, only trailing Eric Mogentale’s 36.

The two teams traded runs over the middle innings. Senior right fielder Charlie Marion answered McElfatrick’s homer with a two-run shot of his own, one of two that went over the fence Tuesday. The Panthers then used a one-run fifth and a solo homer in the sixth inning to keep pace. But Northwestern would respond each time, building up a 5-3 lead through the fifth inning thanks to sacrifice flies from graduate second baseman Noah Ruiz and first-year first baseman Nick Barron in the third, and two more in the fifth via junior shortstop Ryan Kucherak’s double and an error from the Panthers.

Then the sixth inning arrived.

Initially, it didn’t seem like the inning would amount to much after graduate catcher Shane Hofstadler grounded out to open the inning for the Wildcats. But after McElfatrick reached base on a throwing error, senior center fielder Jack Lausch would get them both home, sending a homer over the right field wall to get things rolling. Then after a Ruiz single, Barron followed suit, crushing another two-run homer to right-center that brought the ‘Cats’ run total into double digits, leading 10-4.

Milwaukee wouldn’t leave without a fight, however. Marion hit his second home run of the day in the seventh, while junior catcher Dominic Kibler and sophomore left fielder Bradyn Horn both added RBIs to bring it to 10-8. The Wildcats defense would finally get some stops after a day full of offense, with sophomore right-hander Tommy Bridges and junior right-hander Garrett Shearer — who got his first save of the season — keeping Milwaukee off the board just as the Northwestern offense lost its gas.

Kucherak was the engine of the NU offense, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and a homer that drove in a run while also stealing a base. Lausch continued his strong hitting, adding two RBIs and scoring three runs. While Milwaukee’s junior outfielder Dylan O’Connell — who entered the game hitting .360 — reached base via a walk and a hit by pitch, he finished 1-for-3 with no RBIs and was largely neutralized by the NU pitching staff.