Final Stats

MOUNT PLEASANT, Michigan - The Northern Illinois University (19-27, 7-12 MAC) bullpen limited the Central Michigan (29-16, 14-5 MAC) offense to six hits and four runs over six innings of work in Friday's opener but the Huskies found themselves in an early hole, falling, 14-2.

Freshman Matthew Hoffman (East Dubuque, Ill./Wahlert Catholic) threw a season-best 3.2 innings in relief, striking out two batter with zero walks. Classmate Colby Carmichael (Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines East) finished the game for the Huskies with an outing of 1.2 innings.

Joe Boyle (Wheaton, Ill./Benet Academy), Justin Fletcher (Pekin, Ill./Illinois Central College) and Brian Sisler (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) all recorded two hits.

"Things came apart pretty quick today. All we can do is learn from it and move on. We in a the middle of a playoff race and need to start treating each game from on out as a playoff game," said Head Coach Mike Kunigonis. "Hoffman has a huge team day today coming into the game and settling things down on the mound, keeping the rest of the our bullpen fresh. We will be back at it looking to win a series tomorrow."

The Chippewas opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning as they recorded three singles on hurler Ben Neumann (Verona, Wis./Verona Area). The Huskies responded with two runs in the frame, tying the game on a bloop single to right field by Alex Smith (Mahomet, Ill./Parkland College) as Sisler scored from second.

With Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster) on third and Smith at first after his single, NIU then ran and executed a double steal as Smith avoided the tag at second to allow Jumonville to trot home to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.

In the third, CMU would score nine runs on seven hits, including three on a home run by Daniel Jipping over the left field wall, to take a 10-2 lead. The Chippewas scored two more runs on sacrifice flies, scoring in the fourth and seventh, to push the lead to 12-2.  CMU plated two more runs in the eighth to cap its scoring, 14-2.

The Huskies did not surrender at the plate as they continued to collect hits in the contest, however, NIU would strand two runners on base in the fifth and seventh innings. All told, the Huskies left seven runners on the base path, totaling seven hits.

Northern Illinois University's bullpen tossed 6.0 innings in relief, scattering six hits with only one walk, allowing four runs over three innings.

NIU and CMU will continue the series tomorrow afternoon at noon Central time. Live stats and video can be viewed on CMUChippewas.com.