Northwestern baseball competed in the Cambria Classic this weekend in Minneapolis, taking on three separate programs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The 'Cats' offense was humming for the most part, but their pitching staff let them down over the course of the weekend. Ultimately, it finished 1-2 in the event and dropped below .500.
In game one, NU took on South Dakota State and sent Ryan Weaver to the mound to start the game. He was fairly effective in his six innings of work -- both eating innings and only allowing two runs on five hits. He also struck out an impressive nine batters in the ballgame.
Weaver's two runs allowed came in the bottom of the first inning, but luckily for the 'Cats they had already scored two runs of their own in the top half of the inning. A Ryan Kucherak double scored the first run, and then designated hitter Nick Barron knocked in a run on a sac-fly.
From there, the teams were locked in a 2-2 tie until Wildcat third baseman Owen McElfatrick crushed a homer to center to take the lead in the fourth. The advantage increased to 4-2 in the fifth off a SDSU error.
But disaster struck in the seventh when Sam Hliboki took over for Northwestern on the mound. He allowed two runs in the inning, and the Jackrabbits had evened the score. They would complete the comeback in the eighth when Justin Fryer allowed the winning run.
In game two, the 'Cats got back on track against Omaha. Garrett Shearer was solid for four innings as Northwestern's starting pitcher, allowing just one run. Much of the offense for both teams came towards the end of the game in this one.
Up 3-2 in the sixth, Northwestern's Jack Lausch hit a towering drive to right, scoring two and putting a crooked number up on the board for the Wildcats.
Omaha struck twice in the next inning to get back to a one-run deficit, but NU catcher Jay Slater took care of that in the bottom of the seventh with a 2-RBI double to make it 7-4.
Neither Jake Rifenburg or Drew Dickson were particularly effective for Northwestern out of the pen, but the offense did enough to hold on to a 9-6 victory and even up both its record on the weekend and the season.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't last for long, because the 'Cats fell to UNLV on Sunday, the final day of the event. Northwestern scored five runs -- Owen Freeman had a big hit, and Nick Barron also drove in a run.
But the pen let the team down once again in the late innings. Carter Danz allowed two runs in the fifth. Sam Michel gave up three without recording an out in the seventh. Ultimately, the Wildcats fell 10-5 to go under .500 on the season.
Northwestern will be back in action against UIC tomorrow night.