April 1, 2006
Box Score
DeKALB, IL - Behind a complete game effort by Tom Farmer, the Akron Zips slipped past Northern Illinois 6-5 Saturday afternoon to even the weekend series at one. The Huskies' season-long five-game win streak ended as they fall to 10-14, 3-2 in MAC play, while Akron improved to 7-15, 2-3. Sunday's rubber match has been moved ahead to a noon start to accommodate anticipated weather conditions.
Akron opened the scoring in the top of the first when Doug McNulty singled home Scott Gunn who earlier had doubled. The Zips then tacked on five runs in the second, keyed by a three-run home run by Kurt Davidson.
The Huskies cut the margin to 5-2 on a pair of sacrifice flies. Bobby Stevens plated the first run when Jeff Thomas crossed the plate and later in the frame Pat Minogue brought home Matt Behren.
NIU trimmed the Zip lead to 5-4 in the third behind Scott Simon's solo home run over the left field fence, his first round-tripper in MAC play. The Huskies second run of the inning came when Behren delivered a sacrifice fly that scored Brian Toner.
In the sixth, the Huskies drew within a run at 6-5 when Simon doubled home Marc Besteman, but were unable to knot the game.
Farmer (2-4) picked up the win for Akron, throwing 9.0 innings while striking out 11. Brian Smith (2-5) took the loss for the Huskies. Four NIU relievers combined to throw 3.1 scoreless innings.
Simon paced the NIU offense by going two-for-five with two RBI while Minogue contributed a hit and RBI to extend his hit streak to seven games.
The rubber match of the three-game series is set for a noon start on Sunday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field. Trevor Feeney (2-0) is scheduled to take the mound for the Huskies. The game will be available on Gametracker, linked through the baseball schedule page of www.niuhuskies.com.
NOTABLE HUSKIE TRACKS ...
-Pat Minogue extended his hit streak to a season-best seven.
-Each of the top five hitters in the Huskies lineup had hits.
-Mark Badgley made his fifth MAC appearance and has thrown 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run in league play.
-Scott Simon is batting .600 (15-for-25) in MAC play with nine RBI in five conference games.
