MILWAUKEE, WI – The Northern Illinois University baseball team lost a doubleheader to the host University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by scores of 13-2 and 3-2 Tuesday afternoon at Henry Aaron Field.

NIU took a 2-0 lead in the second game early on, but saw its advantage dwindle and ultimately vanish as the Panthers scored single runs in the second, third and eighth innings of the scheduled seven-inning contest.

With the losses, NIU fell to 19-34 overall as it heads into its final weekend of Mid-American Conference play Thursday-Saturday.

"Disappointing finish to an otherwise solid midweek non-conference slate," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "They seemed to have our number in game one and in game two we couldn't get the big hit to put us ahead later in the game."

In all, the Huskies stranded eight runners on base. NIU captured an early lead however when Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) connected for an RBI double and Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster) singled home Szczasny for a 2-0 first inning advantage, but UWM responded with single tallies in both the second and third frames via RBI doubles. From there, neither team could gain much of an advantage until the Panthers won the game in the eighth on a walk-off RBI single to left-center field.

"We had some positives that we will definitely continue to build on," Kunigonis said.

Both Szczasny and Jumonville led the offensive attack with three hits apiece over the two contests. Szczasny drove in two runs, including a solo home run in the sixth inning of the first game. Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) each had a pair of hits for NIU as well. RHP Blake Walker (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) started Game 2 and worked three innings, striking out four batters, but didn't factor into the decision.

"We need to have a good day of practice tomorrow to get ready for our last MAC weekend," Kunigonis said.

NIU closes out the regular season at Eastern Michigan University for a three-game set. The first game is set for Thursday at 5 p.m.  

--NIU--