The good, the bad and the rest from a demoralizing sweep in Minneapolis

After a rough sweep at the hands of a capable Michigan squad a few weeks ago, I was hoping Northwestern had hit their rock bottom for 2026. I was wrong. The Wildcats played their least competitive conference series of the year over the weekend against a Minnesota squad who previously sat in a tie for last in the Big Ten standings. It was ugly, uncompetitive and eliminated almost any hope for the Wildcats to build momentum entering 2027. As the ‘Cats take a nine game conference losing streak into their final three Big Ten series of the season, the goal has become avoiding unmitigated disaster.

The Good

So, what went right, if anything, in the Twin Cities? Well, despite the Golden Gophers plating 27 across three games, Northwestern got some solid starting pitching performances in two games of the series. After a disastrous 13-1 drubbing on Friday, Matt Kouser toed the rubber and spun six effective innings, allowing only two runs and five hits while walking just a single batter. Kouser pitched one of his better games of the season; it was the first time since March 8th that he didn’t walk multiple batters in an outing. Besides a brutal stretch of starts where he allowed 12 runs in 6 ⅓ innings, Kouser has been dependable and he kept it up in Minnesota.

On Saturday, Ryan Weaver thoroughly impressed me through six innings. Granted, he got touched up a bit in the seventh to bring his final line to seven innings, four earned runs, five hits and five strikeouts, but he likely should’ve been pulled as it was clear his command was declining to start the inning. Weaver has some elite put-away stuff when he is around the zone and he has put up the Wildcats most impressive starting pitching lines when he’s mixing pitches well. Of course, we cannot just ignore the worst starts for all Wildcat pitchers, but if you eliminate two starts at Oregon and Portland where he allowed 21 earned runs over 4 ⅓ innings, his season ERA stands at just 3.93. Not too shabby.

The Bad

Northwestern’s bats simply couldn’t get the job done over the weekend, tallying just six runs and 19 hits. Although they were only egregiously outhit in one of the games, the ‘Cats situational hitting was nowhere to be found. Across three games, they recorded just three RBI hits and an RBI groundout as they stranded 15 runners. This team hardly kills it from a “getting on base” perspective, which makes their hitting with runners in scoring position all the more vital. When you consider the six double plays in just three games, it quickly becomes even easier to see how they couldn’t put together any consistent offense.