CONWAY, Ark. – Despite six solid innings from starting pitcher George Faue (Corcoran, Minn./Rockford), the Northern Illinois University baseball team suffered a 3-2 loss in its season opener Friday afternoon at Central Arkansas.

Faue fanned five batters and walked none while yielding eight hits and two earned runs. NIU connected for eight hits and took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Central Arkansas tallied a run in the fourth and two in the sixth to spoil the 2018 opener for the visitors.

"George gave us a great start and pitched well enough to win," NIU head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "He deserved better than he received.  Our hitters were on the barrel and had some loud outs."

NIU put Faue in line for the win in the first. Senior Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska/Arizona Western) laced a two-run single through the right side, allowing both Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) (single) and Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) (single) to score. However, the Huskies stranded nine runners, including three in the sixth when they loaded the bases with two outs after back-to-back singles from Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and Bynum, and a walk from Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Bradford). A strike out swinging on the next at-bat ended NIU's best opportunity.

"Tough loss," Kunigonis said. "The guys battled and played hard for nine innings. Defensively we need to clean up some things, but I'm confident in this group 100 percent."

Central Arkansas overcame the deficit in the bottom of the sixth. After the Bears pushed a run across on an RBI single in the fourth, a fielder's choice throwing error tied the score and Josh Somdecerff connected for an RBI triple.

NIU nearly countered in the seventh when with two outs Wood was hit by a pitch and Samuel Vega (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) walked, but again the rally fell short on an inning-ending groundout.

Both Bynum and Szczasny led the Huskies' offense with a pair of hits with Szczasny connecting for a double, while Bynum drove in two runs. Wood, Dunham, Jandrowski and Mutter all accounted for one of NIU's eight hits. Tyler Smith led UCA as he went three-for-four with a double.

NIU (0-1) resumes the three-game set with Central Arkansas (1-0) Saturday when sophomore Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian - RHP) takes the bump against UCA's Cody Davenport (RHP) at 3 p.m.

Live Stats, Audio and Video for this weekend's games are available via the Central Arkansas Athletics Website

Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/uca/baseball/
Video: http://ucasports.com/watch
Audio: http://ucasports.com/KUCA

-NIU-