CHICAGO – The Northern Illinois University baseball team led the Valparaiso Crusaders 2-1 after two innings Sunday afternoon at Cougar Stadium, but a three-run sixth inning helped propel Valpo to a 5-2 win in the rubber game of this weekend's three-game series.
"We made the most mistakes today, and if you look at the whole weekend, whichever team made the most mistakes ended up losing the game," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We need to control what we can control and we need to get better. We're back at it on Tuesday right back here, and we need to get back to feeling good and getting a win."
Valpo (4-12) scored first in the top of the second inning. With runners at first and third and two out, NIU starting pitcher
William Anderson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) threw a wild pitch that allowed Christian Barczi to score and put the Crusaders ahead 1-0. Anderson then struck out Damon Jorgensen to end the threat.
NIU (4-15) quickly tied the game when
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run over the left field fence.
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) then hit a single with one out, and got to second base on a Colin Fields wild pitch.
Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) put the Huskies in the lead with an RBI single to right field, scoring Larson from second base to make the score 2-1.
The Huskies had a chance to extend the lead in the bottom of the fourth.
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) led off with a single and got to second on an errant throw by Valpo third baseman Brent Jones. After a groundout got Smith to third with one out,
Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) hit into a fielder's choice that saw Smith get thrown out at home by Jones.
The Crusaders tied the game at two in the top of the fifth. Riley Dent led off the frame with a ground rule double. He then stole third as Anderson walked Sam Shaikin. Anderson followed that up with a walk to Chase Dawson, with ball four going to the backstop allowing Dent to score.
Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) came in the game out of the bullpen for Anderson and promptly struck out Blake Billinger and got a groundout from Jones for the first two outs. Barczi then stepped up and hit a two-run single to centerfield to give the Crusaders a 4-2 lead. Valpo added an insurance run in the top of the eighth to go up 5-2.
Fields took over from there. The Crusader starting pitcher retired 11 straight Huskies until
Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) reached on a dropped third strike with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. The Crusaders' closer Montana Quigley retired the side in order in the ninth for the save.
NIU mustered only four hits off Fields, who struck out nine batters in eight innings with no walks. Anderson allowed four runs on four hits in five innings, striking out four with a pair of walks. Michaels, along with
Parker Kirkpatrick (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence),
Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.), and
Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) combined for seven strikeouts in the last four innings with Thomas striking out the side in the ninth.
The Huskies are back in action at Cougar Stadium to face Chicago State on Tuesday, March 19 at 3 p.m.
--NIU--
