April 10, 2010

Final Stats

Final Box

OXFORD, Ohio - Just after tying the game, 1-1, in the top of the eighth, the bottom half of the frame was unkind to the Northern Illinois baseball team, as the Huskies (10-19, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) struggled to make plays on three bunts, allowing Miami (Ohio) to claim a 5-1 win in Game Two of a three game MAC series.

In the eventful eighth, reliever Andy Deain, who threw a scoreless seventh, walked a leadoff pinch-hitter on four pitches and then tried to bare-hand a sacrifice bunt to his right on the next play, but he bobbled it and had no play. The following batter bunted, too, and it turned into a single down the third base line, as third baseman Troy White stayed at third for the force attempt and Deain could not get to it in time. Then, an inside-out jam shot just over a drawn-in infield fell into shallow left-center field to score a pair of runs. Miami followed with another sacrifice bunt that Deain fielded to his right, but he hesitated for a second, thinking about throwing to third, turned and fired wide-right to first to bring in another run, as the ball ended up in right field's foul territory. Deain then got the next batter to strikeout swinging before Tom Zelasko came in to get the final two outs.

"We committed two errors in the inning and it's extremely disappointing," said NIU head baseball coach Ed Mathey. "Andy Deain is our veteran pitcher and that's whose hands we want the ball in. He committed two errors, and like I told our team, we have to pick ourselves up and execute. Miami is not going to feel sorry for us. We have to be able to do it."

The RedHawks' (14-15, 3-5 MAC) first lead on the mild, sunny afternoon came in the third inning on a two-out bases-loaded walk. The tally was the only given up by starter Jeremy Gonzales, who threw a solid six innings, allowing five hits and three walks with five strikeouts for his second consecutive quality start.

"Jeremy Gonzales was outstanding today, again," said Mathey. "He pitched well enough and deserved to win today. You look at his line and see that he gave up five hits. Two of those should have been caught by our outfielders, which forced him to throw extra pitches. He left the field giving us a chance to win."

Northern Illinois had two opportunities to score with runners in scoring position and less than two outs in both the first and second frames, but could not break through for a hit in McKie Field at Hayden Park.

"That's the stuff when you're struggling, and we are, you have to capitalize in those situations," Mathey said. "We had the right guy up in Jordin Hood in the second, but he struck out on a ball in the dirt, which shows where we are at. We have to get back to having better strike zone discipline."

In the biggest opportunity for the Huskies, they could only scratch one run, as the eighth -inning momentum shifted toward Miami. Brian Riegler started it with a walk and Tom Kotis replaced him as a pinch-runner. Pinch-hitter Joe Buonavolanto then put down a sacrifice bunt to the first base side of the mound. Both the RedHawk first baseman and pitcher hesitated on who would pick it up before the first baseman grabbed the ball and threw low to first, causing the ball to go into right field foul ground. The Huskie runners moved to second and third as a result. Miami then turned to closer Jordan Jankowski, who fanned Marvin Sanchez and Alex Beckmann swinging on a pair of high pitches. Jordin Hood followed, reaching out on a 0-2 breaking ball that was low and away, rolling a grounder to the left side to tie the game. Though, Miami's short stop dove to his right to stop it, preventing another run from scoring. Dave Reynolds then rolled a breaking ball to first base for an unassisted put-out to end the threat.

"Our offense is in a full struggle right now," Mathey said. "We are not swinging at good pitches. That said, we still had a chance to win in the eighth inning. That inning is symbolic of what we are going through right now. Both teams started with leadoff walks and messed up bunt plays. We got only one run out of it and they got four out of it."

Jankowski (2-1) took credit for the win after two frames of work, surrendering just one hit and posting five strikeouts, while Deain (1-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up four runs, two earned, on four hits and one walk with a strikeout in 1.1 innings.

Hood, Joe Etcheverry and Cory Krupp had a hit apiece for the Huskie offense.

With the RedHawks up 2-0 in the series, the Huskies will look to salvage the finale, which starts at noon CDT tomorrow.