MANHATTAN, Kansas – The Northern Illinois University Huskie baseball team wrapped up its spring break road trip Wednesday with an 8-3 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats at Tointon Family Stadium.
The Huskies got a solid four innings from starting pitcher
William Anderson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East HS), who twice wiggled out of bases loaded jams with strikeouts before giving way to a series of relievers who could not keep the Wildcats at bay. NIU fell to 3-13 on the season with the loss while K-State evened its record at 8-8.
"Tough day today against a really good opponent," said NIU Head Coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We were right there for the first half of the game, but couldn't find a way to finish. It was nice to see
William Anderson get back on the mound and give us a quality start. We are right there as a group and are very close to seeing the fruits of our labor."
As they did in Tuesday's game, the Huskies took an early lead, plating two runs in the second inning and one in the fourth to go ahead 3-0. In the second, after
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North HS) walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on
Jordan Larson's (Dodgeville, Wis./Dodgeville HS) double,
Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) grounded out to second to bring Dunham in with the game's first run.
Josh Mutter's (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North HS) double down the left field line plated Larson.
After Anderson struck out Terrence Spurlin with the bases loaded to end a Wildcats' threat in the third, Larson took a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall in the top of the fourth for his first home run of the season, giving the Huskies a 3-0 lead.
Kansas State got on the board in its half of the inning, stringing together a pair of singles after a hit by pitch. The Wildcats left the bases loaded, though, as Anderson struck out Will Brennan looking.
Anderson gave up one run on five hits, walked three and struck out five in four innings before giving way to relievers
Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS),
Drew Hasson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East HS),
Jack Phillips (Fishers, Ind./Cathedral HS) and
Eric Hammer (Rochester, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley HS), who each pitched one inning the rest of the way.
Michaels (0-2) took the loss as Kansas State took the lead for good in their half of the fifth with three runs on a pair of hits, a walk and a throwing error. They added four runs in the seventh for the final margin. Reliever Jaxon Passimo (1-1) got the win for Kansas State as he did not allow a hit in 3.1 innings of work.
The Wildcats totaled 15 hits in the game to NIU's five, with Larson accounting for two of the Huskies' five hits.
"It will be nice to get back to the Chicagoland area to play Valpo this weekend," Kunigonis said. "We will get back at it and be ready to go."
NIU returns to Illinois as the Huskies will open its home schedule with a three-game series versus Valparaiso, beginning Friday..
-- NIU --
