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Northwestern (12-15-1, 5-7 Big Ten) earned its first Big Ten series win of the season over Michigan State (10-19, 5-10 Big Ten) thanks to several clutch hits in the final two games. Owen McElfatrick and Jackson Freeman led the way for the Wildcats, driving in five and four runs, respectively, over the weekend.
Game 1: Northwestern 1, Michigan State 5
Game one began as a pitcher’s duel, with Northwestern’s Jake Rifenburg and Michigan State’s Aidan Donovan trading zeros through five innings. Donovan allowed just two Northwestern baserunners over that stretch as the Wildcats’ bats showed little signs of life.
The Spartans finally broke through in the sixth with back-to-back one-out hits off Rifenburg, forcing head coach Ben Greenspan to make a pitching change. Alex Grant entered with runners on second and third, but could not escape the jam, allowing an RBI single to Issac Sturgess. NU fell behind 2-0 in the sixth.
After another scoreless inning from the Wildcats, Michigan State added to its lead. Sam Hliboki relieved Grant in the seventh after a leadoff single, but could not stop the bleeding. The Spartans added two more hits in the inning, then tacked on an RBI double in the eighth to make it 5-0.
Donovan finally showed signs of vulnerability in the eighth when McElfatrick doubled home Northwestern’s first run, but the spark did not last. Donovan retired the next Wildcat hitter and Brady Chambers closed out the 5-1 series-opening win in the ninth for a Sparty game one victory.
Game 2: Northwestern 10, Michigan State 9
Unlike game one, offense defined game two.
Michigan State’s Randy Seymour got the scoring started with a leadoff home run in the second. Two more hits and a sacrifice fly plated two more Spartan runs, as NU trailed 3-0 after an inning and a half.
Another RBI in the third made it 4-0 and optimism was fading fast for the Wildcats.
Then came Freeman.
The junior’s three-run homer in the third cut the deficit to one and announced the arrival of NU’s offense after 11 innings of silence. Three batters later, Noah Ruiz tied the game at four with an RBI single.
But the Spartans answered.
NU’s Matthew Kouser walked in a run in the fourth and his replacement, Garrett Shearer, allowed two more in the fifth. Michigan State reclaimed the momentum and built a 7-4 lead.
Northwestern, however, did not go away. A Ruiz double followed by a Nick Barron single trimmed the Spartans’ lead to 7-6.
The score stayed frozen until the eighth, when Michigan State’s C.J. Deckinga blasted a two-run homer to left. Northwestern responded immediately. McElfatrick launched a two-run shot to right and Ryan Kucherak followed with a game-tying homer to left-center, knotting the score at nine heading into the final frame.
Despite allowing two hits in the top of the ninth, Shearer escaped unscathed and set the stage for a Northwestern walk-off.
In the bottom half of the ninth, McElfatrick delivered again.
With two outs and men on first and second, he snuck a ground ball through the middle of the infield to score a diving Jack Counsell and even the series for the ‘Cats.
Game 3: Northwestern 8, Michigan State 6
In the Sunday matinee rubber match, the Wildcats struck first and gave their pitching staff an early cushion for the first time in the series. Freeman opened the scoring in the first with a home run to deep left, followed by a Jack Lausch RBI double to give NU a 2-0 lead.
Despite threatening multiple times, it wasn’t until the fourth inning that Michigan State broke through. With two runners on and one out, a well-timed RBI single from Noah Bright cut Northwestern’s lead in half.
The Wildcats responded in the bottom half. Jay Slater’s groundout to short scored Ruiz and restored the two run advantage.
Despite the two teams exchanging blows over the next few innings, Northwestern held a 4-3 lead entering the eighth.
In the top of the inning, Bright’s home run for Michigan State tied the game at four, threatening to undo another strong Northwestern start.
But instead of Ryan Weaver’s stellar six innings of work fade in defeat, the Wildcats answered with their biggest rally of the series.
Kucherak opened the bottom of the eighth with a leadoff homer to put Northwestern back in front. Then, after two walks and a pitching change, Counsell singled to bring home another run.
A hit-by-pitch, a walk and a fielder’s choice brought in two more, pushing the Wildcats’ lead to 8-4. Northwestern scored four runs in the inning despite recording only two hits.
Michigan State made one last push in the ninth with an RBI single that scored two runs, but it was too little, too late. Northwestern’s four-run eighth sealed the 8-6 win and the program’s first Big Ten series victory of the season.
Northwestern now turns its attention to UIC for a midweek tilt on Tuesday, April 7. First pitch in downtown Chicago is set for 5:05 p.m. CT, with the game available for streaming on ESPN+.
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