May 3, 2006
Box Score
GENEVA, IL - Northern Illinois defeated Northwestern 8-5 Wednesday night in front of 689 spectators at Elfstrom Stadium, home of the Kane County Cougars. The Huskies even their record at 23-23 while the Wildcats fall to 17-25. With the win, NIU completes its intrastate schedule with a state-best 11-2 record, defeating each Illinois school it faced this season.
"We did a great job running the bases tonight and we were aggressive at the plate," said head coach Ed Mathey. "We took advantage of the errors they made and that was the difference in the ballgame."
The Huskies pounced first, scoring it their first at-bat for the fourth time in the last five games. Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake/Central) led off the frame with an infield single and moved over to third on an errant pick-off attempt. Scott Simon (Algonquin/Marian Central Catholic) brought home Minogue on a RBI groundout to put NIU up 1-0.
Northwestern knotted the score at one in the bottom of the first on Antonio Mule's sacrifice fly that scored Jake Owens. The Wildcats took a 2-1 lead later in the inning on a single by Caleb Fields that plated Pat McMahon.
NIU loaded the bases in the second inning and drew even at two when Minogue reached on a fielder's choice to score Kyle Pettengell (DeKalb), who led off with a walk. As Minogue stole second, a throwing error back to the plate scored Colin Grant (Lake Zurich/Lake County CC) to give the Huskies a 3-2 advantage.
Pettengell delivered a RBI double in the third inning that scored Brian Toner (Alsip/Kishwaukee CC), who had reached earlier on a single, and upped the Huskie lead to 4-2. Max Mann hit a solo home run for Northwestern to cut the margin to 4-3 in the fourth inning.
In the fifth, Pettengell struck again, rapping a RBI single to right field to score Jeff Thomas (Loves Park/Harlem), who doubled in the previous at-bat, to put NIU up by two at 5-3. The Wildcats answered and tied the score in the bottom of the fifth behind a McMahon RBI double and bloop single by Fields that scored Mule.
Toner broke the deadlock in the eighth inning, putting NIU ahead 6-5 when he delivered a RBI single to right field scoring Marc Besteman (Bradford, Ontario/North Central TX CC) who singled and stole second. Thomas followed with a single that scored Simon and Toner and staked the Huskies to an 8-5 lead.
NU scored in the eighth when Owens double and then scored on a McMahon single, cutting the lead to 8-6, providing the game's final margin.
Andy Deain (Crystal Lake/Prairie Ridge) picked up the victory (2-1) while Matt German (Aurora/Marmion Academy) notched his 11th save of the season. Brian Morgan (0-2) took the loss for Northwestern.
Thomas paced the NIU offense, going three-for-five with two RBI while Pettengell finished two-for-two with two RBI. The Huskies stole a season-high seven bases in the game, two each by Toner and Brian Smith (Chicago Ridge/Richards), and one by Minogue, Thomas, and Besteman..
NIU resumes MAC play with a key three-game series at Western Michigan beginning Friday afternoon in Kalamazoo. Live statistics for each contest will be available on the baseball schedule page of www.niuhuskies.com.
NOTABLE HUSKIE TRACKS ...
-NIU is 2-0 against Northwestern in games played at Geneva.
-Kyle Pettengell has seven RBI in his last three starts.
-Pat Minogue has hit safely in his last four games.
