April 28, 2009

Game One Final Stats

Game Two Final Stats

Game One Final Box

Game Two Final Box

Milwaukee, Wis. - A pair of late homeruns, one in each game, doomed Northern Illinois in a doubleheader versus UW-Milwaukee as the Huskies fell 5-2 in game one and 6-4 in game two on a sunny, but windy and cool Tuesday evening at Henry Aaron Field.

In game one, NIU took a 2-0 lead in the first frame after consecutive singles by Joe Buonavolanto (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale South) and Troy White (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) set up Dave Reynolds' (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) RBI sacrifice fly. An out later, Nick Badgley (McHenry, Ill./McHenry C.C.) hit an RBI single through the left side.

However, those were the only runs the Huskie offense would tally and it seemed that it would be enough support for NIU starter Jake Hermsen (New London, Wis./New London), who didn't allow a runner past second base until the sixth inning when Cole Kraft doubled with one out. After a ground out put NIU one out away from a scoreless inning, the Panthers rallied with an RBI single by Doug Dekoning, a Dan Buchholz hit-by-pitch, an RBI single by Josh Groves that tied the game, and then Tim Patzman blasted a three-run homerun to cap it off.

"There was a ball that was hit to left field that was catchable that we didn't make a play on, then with two outs they had an infield single on a dribbler over the mound, and then they hit the homer," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "Jake threw the ball very well, very well. If anybody is to blame, it's me for leaving him in there.

"We swung the bats well in the first inning, but didn't do anything after that. The wind was blowing out and it was chilly so it wasn't too bad a day to hit. A third of our starting lineup was at home taking care of some finals, but that's no excuse. We didn't do the things we needed to get it done."

Lucas Annen (2-0) earned the win in relief by throwing two innings, allowing only two walks, while Craig Meier closed it out for his fifth save as he pitched the seventh inning, giving up a hit and a walk with one strikeout. Hermsen (1-1) took the loss, surrendering five earned runs on five hits and a walk with a season-high tying five strikeouts.

Kraft paced the Panther offense with two hits and a run, while Patzman supplied the power with three RBI on his lone hit of the game, a homer. Badgley led the NIU offense with a hit and an RBI. Reynolds also had an RBI, and Buonavolanto and White each had a hit with a run scored.

In game two, the Huskies once again jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two runs in the first inning coming on a two-out two-run triple by Badgley. NIU also got another run in the second after loading the bases on an Alex Beckmann (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) walk, a Sam Kapacinskas (DeBary, FL/St. Johns River C.C.) HBP and an Alex Jones (kansas City, Kan./Piper) HBP. After Buonavolanto reached on a force out at home, Reynolds walked to drive in a run.

The Panthers quickly countered though in the bottom of the second with a two-out three-run triple by Kraft to tie it, 3-3.

In the sixth, NIU took the lead with the help of more free passes as Beckmann and Kapacisnkas were both hit by pitches to start the inning, and then Jones walked after Hermsen's sacrifice bunt to load the bases. Buonavolanto drove in the run on the next play on a grounder to first that the first baseman fielded, stepped on first, and threw home, but the throw was not in time.

However, UW-Milwaukee once again got a timely homerun in the sixth to earn the sweep. Groves started the inning with a single. After Patzman grounded out back to Reynolds on the mound, Shawn Wozniak reached on a walk. Then Paul Hoenecke hit another huge three-run homer for the Panthers to put them on top 6-4.

"We left Dave in there with a lefty on lefty matchup and he left a pitch up a bit," Mathey said. "You have to give them credit for taking advantage of those situations today.

"Again, we scored early with two runs on a walk, an error, and a hit, but we didn't do much after that." We needed to do a better job of supporting Dave because he threw the ball well. Offensively, it wasn't a good day for us. Hopefully we get it corrected for tomorrow because our pitchers threw excellent today up until the last at-bat of each game. I thought we got a good effort out of some of the kids who haven't played a lot this year, but we didn't execute well enough."

Tim Hoy (1-1) earned the win in relief for UW-M, despite giving up an earned run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts in two innings. Meier tallied his second save of the day and sixth of the season by throwing a perfect seventh. Reynolds (0-4) was tagged with the loss even though he fanned a career-high seven batters in 5.1 innings, surrendering six earned runs on seven hits and two walks.

Kraft led the Panthers again in game two with three more hits along with three RBI. Hoenecke also drove in three runs on his only hit of the game, which was the game-deciding homerun. Groves tallied a pair of hits as well. Badgley led the Huskie offense with two hits and two RBI, while Justin Behm (Downers Grove, Ill./North) had the only other NIU hit. Reynolds and Buonavolanto each had an RBI as well.

The Huskies play again tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. CT as they take on Valparaiso (19-19, 7-8 Horizon) at home on Ralph McKinzie Field. Fans can follow the game live on GameTracker via www.niuhuskies.com.

Huskie Notes

- NIU has scored at least a run in 11 of its last 14 first innings and has done so 22 times overall.

- Reynolds has 27 RBI in last 13 games.

- Kevin Smith (Wheaton, Ill./North) made his first start of the season in game two, starting as the designated hitter, marking his second start of his career.