Wildcats Close Out Home Season Against Indiana :: Big Ten Network is televising Sunday's contest

May 8, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern closes out its 2008 home season this weekend as it takes on surging Indiana at Rocky Miller Park. The series gets underway at 3 p.m. Friday. Saturday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. Sunday's Senior Day contest is also set for at 1 p.m. start. Sunday's game is being televised on a same-day, tape-delay basis on Big Ten Network.

Seven individuals - Rob Campbell, Matt Havey, Mike Kalina, Aaron Newman, Max Mann, Jake Owens and Bo Schultz - will be honored following Sunday's contest after they play in their final home game.

NU's seniors have posted an impressive combined batting average of .304 (663-2179) in their careers. They have hit 22 home runs, stolen 105 bases and driven in 308 runs.

Northwestern (18-23, 11-13) enters the series with Indiana tied with Penn State for fifth place in the Big Ten with two weekends of play remaining. With the top six teams qualifying for the Big Ten tournament, the Wildcats and the Nittany Lions lead seventh-place Michigan State by only a half-game.

Series History: Indiana leads, 86-73-2.
Last Season: The teams split a four-game series April 8-9 in Bloomington. The Wildcats swept the opening doubleheader before the Hoosiers won both ends of the second twinbill.

The Wildcats are coming of a 15-4 win over Elmhurst on Tuesday as they pounded out 17 hits. Campbell and Mann paced NU with three hits apiece. The 'Cats dropped three of four games at Illinois last weekend, including a tough 10-9 defeat in Monday's finale on a two-run, two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Their lone win was by a 4-3 margin in the opening game of Sunday's doubleheader.

Odds 'n Ends
• Jake Owens currently sports an 18-game hit streak. Mark Loretta (1993) and Caleb Fields (2007) own the school record for longest hitting streak in a single season at 20 games. Owens hit safely in each of the team's 13 games this year. Coupled with collecting hits in each of last nine games of the 2007 season, Owens hit safely in 22 straight games.

• With a 6-2 record this season, Eric Jokisch has tied the school record for victories in a season by a freshman. It has been 25 years since Bob Miller most recently last won six games as a frosh during the 1983 season. NU is 8-2 in games which Jokisch has started this year.

• Sophomore Jake Goebbert and senior Jake Owens have not only gotten the job done at the plate this season, they have also shown they can contribute on the mound as well. Both players made their collegiate debuts on the bump within the past week. Goebbert tossed a scoreless inning at Illinois on Sunday and then another in Tuesday's win over Elmhurst. Owens took the hill for the first time against Elmhurst and didn't allow a run while recording a strikeout in 0.2 innings of work.

Scouting Indiana
•The Hoosiers (21-26, 9-15) have been one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten lately, earning a series split with first-place Michigan before taking three of four from second-place Purdue last weekend.

•Josh Phegley is enjoying an outstanding sophomore season. The IU catcher leads the Big Ten with a .438 batting average and 60 runs batted in. Reigning Big Ten Player of the Week Andrew Means is third in the conference with 52 runs scored.

• On the mound, Matt Bashore and Tyler Tufts are tied for the team lead with 65.2 innings pitched apiece. Bashore is tops in the Big Ten with 74 strikeouts while sporting a 5-3 record.

Up Next...
Northwestern concludes its regular season next weekend as it travels to Big Ten leader Michigan. The series gets underway Thursday with the contest being televised by the Big Ten Network.