March 29, 2005

Box Score	R	H	E
Northern Iowa	4	14	4
Northern Illinois	3	10	2

WP: Mark Bennett (1-0)
LP: Trevor Feeney (0-1)

RECORDS TO DATE: Northern Illinois now 5-12 / Northern Iowa now 10-12
NEXT HUSKIE ACTION: Wednesday, March 30 at Bradley, 1p.m.

Triple Play Halts Northern Illinois Baseball Comeback In 15-Inning Loss To Northern Iowa

DeKalb, IL – The longest game (four hours, 11 minutes) in Northern Illinois University baseball history was marred by a bizarre, game-ending triple play, as the University of Northern Iowa Panthers escaped Ralph McKinzie Field with a 4-3 win in 15 innings Tuesday (March 29) afternoon / evening in DeKalb.

The contest, which would have been called due to darkness had it extended into the 16th, tied the school record for length. The Huskies also played 15 frames in a 4-3 loss at Western Michigan on April 13, 2003. The game time of 4:11 eclipsed the school mark of 4:10, which occurred April 6, 1999 at McKinzie Field vs. Chicago State.

After five consecutive scoreless innings (innings 10-14), UNI finally broke the defensive stalemate with a two-out rally in the top of the 15th to earn the win. Catcher Nate Trumm opened the rally with a two-out walk and was moved to second on a Patrick Moran single. Pinch hitter Brett Featherston then laced the eventual game-winning single to centerfield to give the Panthers the 4-3 lead, setting up the head-scratching ending.

As you would expect from a team that rallied for a ninth-inning run to force extra innings in the first place, Northern Illinois fought back to load the bases without recording an out in the bottom half of the inning. Eric Sansouci singled up the middle, before a Jake Blair walk pushed the tying-ahead run into scoring position. A balk by Northern Iowa reliever Mark Bennett pushed both runners into scoring position, initiating an intentional pass to freshman second baseman Kyle Cherney to create a force-out situation at every base. That’s where Northern Illinois’ apparent game-winning, twilight rally turned unjustly sour.

Brian Toner looked to drive in the game-tying run on a liner to right field, but UNI outfielder Brett Douglas made a nice stab and quickly threw to second base to create a force out on Blair, who ventured down the line incase the ball dropped for a single. The Northern Iowa shortstop (Moran) then threw to third, where the field umpire said that Huskie right fielder (Sansouci) failed to tag, completing the triple play and ending the game.

“The umpire seemed to be in position at second base for that call, but it’s tough to be at third for that call as well,” head coach Ed Mathey said. “I told the umpires, ‘there are two things you have to be absolutely sure of, first, is the catch and second, is the appeal at third’. Give Northern Iowa credit, they made the appeal to third base and they got the call they wanted. If you ask the Northern Iowa coach, he’ll say great call. If you ask me, well ...

“I haven’t seen something like that in my years of coaching,” Mathey continued. “It’s a tough way to end the ballgame for two teams that didn’t want to go down.”

Northern Illinois jumped to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back runs in the second and third innings. Sansouci led off the second with a walk and advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Blair. Northern Iowa third baseman Dave Westergaard then threw a Cherney ground ball over the first baseman to allow Sansouci to motor home for the game’s first run.
Jeremy Busch then continued his recent power surge, depositing his fifth home run of the season over the right-center fence to up NIU’s lead to two.

Northern Iowa plated three runs in the sixth to gain a 3-2 advantage. Three consecutive singles drove home Curt Bradley to cut the NIU lead in half. Trumm then sacrificed Mark Frieske to the plate with a fly to left-center, before a Huskie error allowed Jose Guzman to score from third.

The scoreboard remained 3-2 until the ninth, when the Huskies plated the game-tying tally. Toner opened the inning with a single and advanced to second on another UNI throwing error. After a passed ball pushed the Huskie left-fielder to third, the injured Scott Simon did his best Willis Reed impression, by coming off the bench to single home Toner and knot the contest at 3-3. Prior to his ninth-inning at-bat, Simon had missed Northern Illinois’ last eight games due to a strained right wrist. The action was his first since a March 15 contest at Louisville.

“Just a gutsy effort by the guys to comeback and force extra innings,” Mathey said. “This team hasn’t gotten many breaks, but they aren’t going to pout or make excuses about it. They just keep fighting.”

Trevor Feeney took the loss for the Huskies, falling to 0-1 on the season, while Mark Bennett got his first win in 4.0 innings of work. Adam Holdenrid got the start for Northern Illinois and was outstanding, scattering seven hits over 5.2 innings. Fellow freshman Brian Smith was equally impressive pitching 6.0 innings in relief, allowing just five hits, while striking out four.

Northern Illinois returns to action on Wednesday (March 30) when it travels to Peoria, IL, for a double-header against the Bradley Braves. The first game is scheduled for 1 p.m.

###NIU###