Northwestern Baseball Wins Series as Big Ten Tournament Chase Tightens

The 'Cats took two of three in the penultimate weekend series of conference play.

Northwestern celebrates after win at Wrigley Field. | Photo: Northwestern Athletic

In Big Ten baseball, the top-12 teams in the conference are invited to the annual Big Ten Tournament. After some truly brutal seasons the past couple of years, Northwestern has put itself in a position to have a chance for a bid heading into the final weekend of the 2025 regular season.

The 'Cats took two of three from Big Ten bottom-feeder Ohio State this weekend, and they currently sit tied in record for 11th place with Michigan State and Illinois. The issue, though, is that they do not hold the tie breaker over either of those teams and would not make it if the season ended today.

The series against the Buckeyes started on Friday at Wrigley Field, Northwestern's yearly game at the big league ballpark. The 'Cats handled business at "The Friendly Confines," downing the Buckeyes by a score of 12-2 in seven innings.

Sam Hliboki was fantastic on the mound for Northwestern, hurling seven innings of one-run ball and striking out five. He did walk four batters, but he managed to limit the damage.

Offensively, a six-run second inning gave the 'Cats a commanding lead. The runs came on RBI-doubles from Jacob Hand, Preston Knott and Owen McElfatrick. From there, NU was able to tack on six more runs over the course of the game, ending it on a Ryan Kucherak RBI-single that triggered the run-rule.

Game two is one Northwestern likely wants to have back. The 11-6 loss back at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park could come back to bite the 'Cats in the tournament race.

Starter Christian Forniss simply didn't have his best stuff out of the gates in this one. The Buckeyes pounced right away, scoring four runs in the first inning.

Northwestern clawed back and trailed by just one run in 5-4 ballgame in the third. But, utlimately, another four-run inning from Ohio State in the sixth against Crawford Wade took the 'Cats out of the game.

In the rubber match, the Wildcats got back on track in a big way. Blake MacMillan was nails on the mound, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing just two runs. Meanwhile, the 'Cats offense exploded and put 17 on the board in seven innings.

Among many contributors, catcher Bennett Markinson and shortstop Ryan Kucherak were the stars of the show. Markinson went a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish with four RBIs. Kucherak also hit two bombs in the game.

For his efforts in the series, Kucherak was named Big Ten Player of the Week. He finished 6-for-10 on the weekend with five RBIs and the two homers on Sunday.

Next, Northwestern has one more nonconference game against Valparaiso tomorrow. It will then travel to the West Coast to take on UCLA in its final weekend series of the regular season. The Bruins are 20-7 in conference and second in the B1G, so it's a tough matchup for the 'Cats as they try to sneak into the tournament.