March 25, 2011
Final Stats
Final Box in PDF Format 
Bowling Green 7, Northern Illinois 2
Ralph McKinzie Field | DeKalb, Ill.
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1 |
2 |
3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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R
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H
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E
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BGSU
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1
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0
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0
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3
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2
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0
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1
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0
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0
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7
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11
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0
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| NIU |
1
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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2
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5
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0
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W: Apthorpe (2-2) L: Oates (1-4) S: Frank (1)
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Player of the Game
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Troy White
1-for-3
2 RBI
1 BB
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DeKALB, Ill. - Bowling Green cooled off a streaking Northern Illinois team, winning 7-2 Friday evening at Ralph McKinzie Field in the first Mid-American Conference game for both teams.
Spoiling the home opener for the Huskies (5-12, 0-1 MAC), the Falcons (7-10, 1-0 MAC) broke a first inning 1-1 tie with three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and another in the seventh, all while Cody Apthorpe held NIU's bats at bay. The loss marks just the second time in nine years that the Huskies have dropped their home opener under head coach Ed Mathey, and is only the second setback NIU has suffered in its last seven games.
"Bowling Green came here and took it to us today," Mathey said. "They played with a purpose and did what they needed to do. They systematically executed a lot of things out there. We just were never able to get anything going on our end. I give credit to their pitcher.
"It's good to be home; normally we do good things here at Ralph McKinzie Field. We have to come out tomorrow and win that game and see what we can do Sunday."
Fresh off taking home MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week, all the runs came off NIU's senior ace Zach Oates (1-4), who labored through 6.1 innings, giving up nine hits and two walks with six strike outs. The righty seemed to settle in after allowing a sacrifice fly in the first as he retired eight straight hitters.
But the Falcons got to Oates in the fourth, after the Huskies missed on a third inning scoring opportunity. Matthew Pitzulo and Clay Duncan started it off with singles. An out later, Alex Davison walked to load the bases and Frank Berry singled to right to score a run. T.J. Losby followed with a sacrifice fly and Andrew Kubuski drove in the third run of the frame with a single to right.
"[Zach] was having trouble locating his breaking ball today," said Mathey. "Bowling Green is a good fastball hitting team and they did a good job. They mainly had singles, but strung them together."
After leaving runners in scoring position again in the fourth, BGSU capitalized in the fifth to put the game out of reach for NIU. RBI singles by Pitzulo and Ryan Schlater increased the deficit to 6-1.
"We had some opportunities to inch back into this thing, but never got it going," Mathey said. "[The chances we had in the third and fourth innings] were huge in changing the momentum."
Both NIU runs came off the bat of Troy White. The junior produced an RBI groundout in the first inning and an RBI triple in the eighth.
BGSU starter Cody Apthorpe (2-2) earned the win by striking out seven and allowing one run on three hits and three walks in six innings. With three innings of effective relief to close the game out, Michael Frank gathered his first save of the season.
Jon Berti sparked the Falcon offense by going 4-for-5 and scoring a pair of runs.
The Huskies and Falcons resume the series tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. (CT) and at the same time Sunday. Scheduled to take the bump Saturday are NIU left-hander Tom Barry (1-0 | 6.75 ERA) and BGSU right-hander Nick Bruns (0-1 | 6.75 ERA). Sunday's probable starters are NIU righty Jeremy Gonzales (1-4 | 8.51 ERA) and BGSU righty Charles Wooten (1-2 | 3.80 ERA).
-NIU-
