In baseball, the randomness of sports is magnified. The game is so player dependent -- a team can get blown out one day and then have its ace on the mound for a 1-0 slop-fest the next. Over the course of a long season, even in college baseball, teams find themselves winning and losing in a variety of mundane, heartbreaking and jaw-dropping ways. It's why we love the sport.
The 2026 Northwestern Wildcats when it comes to winning, though, seem to have a type.
The 'Cats bested UIC 12-11 yesterday in a mid-week game at home that was wild throughout. Northwestern continues to prove that it has one of the worst pitching staffs in the Big Ten, and adding the qualifier there might be generous. But, simultaneously, this team can really hit, and the lineup just keeps chugging.
Starter Justin Fryer put Northwestern in a massive hole yesterday, allowing seven earned runs in the first inning, a frame he was unable to complete. UIC came out like gangbusters at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park, and it appeared the 'Cats were headed for a fourth straight loss after getting swept vs. Purdue over the weekend.
Instead, this team just got back up on its horse.
In the bottom half of the first, center fielder Jack Lausch and second baseman Noah Ruiz both launched solo shots to bring the deficit back to five. Lausch is in the midst of a coming out party, firmly anchored in the middle of Northwestern's lineup and producing like a guy who wants a shot at getting drafted.
UIC shut the 'Cats down from there until the sixth inning, but Northwestern benefited from a solid 7.2 innings of work from Sam Hliboki in relief. And then, in the sixth, this Wildcat offense exploded.
Northwestern dropped a crooked number 10 on the board in that inning, going from trailing 7-2 to leading the contest 12-7. Nick Barron kicked off the party with a two-run bomb, and then Owen McElfatrick, Jack Counsell, Ryan Kucherak, Lausch, Ruiz, Barron (again) and Jackson Freeman all delivered RBI hits.
But the game was far from over, and the Wildcats still had to rely on a pitching staff with an ERA hovering around 8 to shut the door. Despite the five-run lead, that proved to be a tall task.
Hliboki, who had performed admirably for the 'Cats in the middle innings, immediately started to crack. He gave up a homer in the eighth, and then another much more costly three-run bomb in the ninth to bring the score to 12-11.
In crisis, Northwestern head coach Ben Greenspan decided to go to the bullpen one more time, calling upon Alex Grant to get two more outs and win the game. He did just that, striking out both batters he faced, and the Wildcats eked out a hotly-contested victory.