BLOOMINGTON, IN – The Huskies upset bid of No. 14 nationally-ranked Indiana University just came up short Saturday as Northern Illinois University fell 4-3 at Bart Kaufman Field.

Junior pitcher Tanner Foster (St. Charles, Iowa/Southeastern Community College) was lights out for the Huskies as he retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, and six in a row at one point. In seven innings, the hard-throwing right-hander scattered four hits and struck out seven batters, while walking only two. 

"Tanner gave us more than a chance to win today," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "He threw great and gave Indiana all they could handle and more."

Sophomore Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) put the Huskies in position for the victory in the eighth inning. After Samuel Vega (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) drove in Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) on his reach on an error to tie the game at 2-2, Dunham roped an infield single to the shortstop allowing Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster) to score. But back-to-back home runs in the bottom half of the frame put the Hoosiers over the top to earn the victory. Andrew Frankenreider (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) suffered the hard-luck loss in relief for NIU (4-13).

Things started strong for NIU when it pulled ahead 1-0 in the fourth inning. Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) reached on an error, advanced to third on Tommy Szczasny's (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) single and scored on a perfectly executed double steal with Szczasny. Indiana responded however in its half of the frame with an RBI groundout, and later pulled ahead 2-1 in the sixth inning on another RBI groundout before NIU countered with two runs in the eighth.

Szczasny and Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska /Arizona Western College) led the Huskies' offense with a pair of hits, while Wood, Jumonville and Dunham each had a hit. Szczasny extended his hitting streak to three games, and Dunham started a new streak of reaching base safely in 14 of his last 15 games.

"This is the team we've been coaching since Day One in the fall," Kunigonis said. "It was good to see our guys play the way we know they can. If we bring this effort the next two-thirds of the season we will be where we want to be by the end of the year."

NIU closes out the series tomorrow with a 12 noon contest. RHP Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) will take the mound, and will opposite LHP Cam Beauchamp for the Hoosiers.

--NIU--