IOWA CITY, IA – The Northern Illinois University baseball team led for a majority of Tuesday's game at Duane Banks Field against the Iowa Hawkeyes, but a late rally by the Hawkeyes pushed them to an 8-6 win.
"We battled and were right there at the end of the game with a chance to win," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We didn't execute enough to win today. We need to be better at controlling what we can control. That's on the mound, at the plate, and in the field."
NIU (11-25) led 6-4 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Iowa tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. A two-out RBI triple by Tanner Wetrich got Iowa within one at 6-5. He then scored on a
Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) wild pitch to level the game 6-6. After a double play ended NIU's half of the eighth, the Hawkeyes took their first lead of the game on a one-out RBI single by Izaya Fullard that put Iowa front 7-6. Austin Martin followed with another run-scoring single to make the score 8-6. The Huskies put their first two batters on base in the ninth, but Iowa closer Grant Leonard retired the side to give the Hawkeyes the win.
The Huskies scored first on the Hawkeyes in the top of the second. With one out,
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) crushed his third home run of the season with a towering shot over the left centerfield fence to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) followed with a single. After a strikeout,
Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) lined a double down the left field line. A bobble in the corner allowed Larson to score on the hit to give NIU a 2-0 lead.
Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) then reached on an infield single. Szczasny then stole second base, with a throwing error by Iowa catcher Brett McCleary allowing Mutter to score NIU's third run.
Iowa (21-14) put a pair of runs on the board in the bottom of the third. After
Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) retired the side in the second inning, Brendan Sher led off the third with a double to left center. A one-out walk to Fullard gave the Hawkeyes runners at the corners. Martin then delivered a single with the hit-and-run on, scoring Sher to make the score 3-1.
Blake Walker (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) then came in the game and promptly struck out Luke Farley for the second out. Ben Norman cut the deficit to one with an RBI single, putting the score at 3-2. Walker got out of the inning by getting Tanner Wetrich to fly out.
The Huskies extended their lead in the top of the fourth. After a Lonteen leadoff single,
Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) rang a double off the wall in right centerfield to give NIU runners at second and third. Szczasny drove in both runners with a two-out double to give the Huskies a 5-2 lead. The Hawkeyes closed the gap in the bottom half of the inning on a Fullard sacrifice fly, making the score 5-3. Wetrich made the deficit one run in the fifth as his two-out solo home run put the score at 5-4.
NIU got back up by two runs in the top of the seventh. Mutter and Szczasny led off the frame with back-to-back singles, then got into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by
Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College). Drobushevich brought in Mutter with a groundout to Wetrich at shortstop, giving NIU a 6-4 lead.
Szczasny had a season-high four hits in the game, going 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Lonteen had his fourth three-hit game of the year. Larson and Mutter both had two hits and combined to score three runs.
"We need to bounce back and get a win tomorrow and go into this weekend's series against Kent State feeling good," Kunigonis said.
The Huskies open a brief four-game homestand on Wednesday, April 17 against Trinity Christian College. First pitch at Ralph McKinzie Field is set for 3 p.m.
--NIU--
