March 27, 2011
Final Stats
Final Box in PDF Format 
Northern Illinois 3, Bowling Green 0
Ralph McKinzie Field | DeKalb, Ill.
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W: Gonzales (2-4) L: Wooten (1-3) S: Glancy (3)
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DeKALB, Ill. - In the finale of a Mid-American Conference and home opening series for Northern Illinois, the Huskies shutout Bowling Green 3-0 behind a gutsy performance from starter Jeremy Gonzales Sunday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field.
The win marked NIU’s first in league play and sixth in its last nine games. The shutout effort by the Huskie staff is the third this season. Prior to the first shutout of the year on March 16 against North Dakota, NIU had gone 108 games between shutouts. Now, the Huskies (6-13, 1-2 MAC) have three over their last nine games.
Gonzales (2-4) spear-headed the three-man shutout by throwing seven innings and allowing just four hits and one walk with six strikeouts, tying a season high. The senior has gone at least six innings with four hits given up and six strikeouts in two of his last three outings, both for wins.
Helping Gonzales’ cause was the fact he let only two of seven leadoff hitters reach base, which played a large factor in the Falcons (8-11, 2-1 MAC) only having one scoring opportunity with less than two outs the entire game. That chance came in the in the seventh after a leadoff walk and sacrifice bunt, but Gonzales retired the next two batters to finish his day and turn it over to the bullpen.
“That was a big performance for us,” said NIU head coach Ed Mathey of Gonzales’ scoreless effort. “He’s been struggling with his command and Coach [Ray] Napientek has been helping him with that. He’s doing a good job to correct it. He’s not the type of kid that can pitch behind in counts. For him to pitch ahead is huge. As a team, this was a big performance for us. Shutting out that team was pretty good today.”
Equally as important for Gonzales was the early lead he had to work with. Down two games to none after NIU went 19 innings without the lead in the series, the Huskies cracked through the scoreboard first with two runs in the second and one in the third.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the second, Tom Kotis reached out and slapped a two-strike offering up the middle for two runs. Comfortable with a lead, Gonzales put up a zero in the top of the third and Alex Jones kept momentum on NIU’s side in the bottom of the third. The lefty blasted a homer that wrapped around the right field foul pole, giving Gonzales all he would need to lock down the Huskies’ first win at home and first in league play.
“With everything that was going into this game -being down 0-2 - [scoring first] was important for us,” Mathey said. “We sensed it in the dugout, especially after Kotis had the big two-out hit. We had something positive going. Gonzo picked up on it and competed incredibly out there. That was big for us.
“Our hitting was better,” Mathey said. “We worked deeper counts and that toughness is what we need to continue. I liked our toughness and resolve to take this game. The last thing you ever want to do in this league is get swept. This win builds momentum for the week ahead. We are happy with that.”
With a 3-0 lead, Tom Zelasko got the first two outs of the eighth and Kyle Glancy closed the final 1.1 frames of the game to pick up his third save of the season, staying perfect in three save chances.
Charles Wooten fell to 1-3 on the season in taking the loss. The righty surrendered three runs on four hits and three walks in 4.1 innings with five strikeouts.
Jones and Troy White led the Huskie offense with two hits in four at-bats apiece. Jones’ longball was his first of the season and the second overall for the Huskies.
NIU wraps up a five-game home stand with two midweek games before heading to New York to take on Buffalo in a three-game MAC series next weekend. The Huskies face Chicago State and Aurora at 3:05 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday, March 29, and Wednesday, March 30, respectively.
-NIU-
