DEKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team dropped the series opener of it's three-game set against the Bowling Green Falcons 4-3 Thursday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field.
"It was a tough day to hit with the wind blowing in," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "Bowling Green did a good job capitalizing on their opportunities and we didn't. Plain and simple. They got a two-out hit and we didn't get a two-out hit when we needed it and that was the difference in the ballgame."
Bowling Green (16-32, 8-17 MAC) opened the scoring in the top of the second inning. Dylan Dohanos reached on an infield single to lead off the frame, followed by Tyler Haas also reaching base on an error. After Ryan Johnston moved the two runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, R.J. Williams drove in Dohanos with a run-scoring single to right field. Bowling Green then attempted a double steal, with Williams getting in a rundown long enough to allow Haas to score before being tagged out, making the score 2-0.
NIU (17-34, 13-12) answered with a run in the bottom of the second. With a runner at second and one out,
Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) laced a single to right field to score
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) and make the score 2-1.
Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) kept the Huskies in the game by retiring six of the seven batters he faced in the third and fourth innings. The Falcons loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but the sophomore right-hander got designated hitter Brad Croy to groundout to end the threat.
The Huskies took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. NIU had runners at second and third with one out when
Nick Drobushevich hit a groundball to second base to bring in
Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) and tie the game at two.
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) broke the tie with a two-out single to right field, scoring
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) to give NIU a 3-2 lead.
Freshman pitcher
Erik Hedmark (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown) kept NIU in the lead with a 1-2-3 sixth inning. However, Bowling Green's offense came back in the seventh inning. After a fielder's choice gave the Falcons a runner at first with two out, Anthony Smith single through the right side of the infield to keep the inning alive. Smith then stole second base before Neil Lambert drew a walk to load the bases. Croy then stepped up to the plate and delivered a two-run single to give Bowling Green a 4-3 lead.
NIU had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. Larson led off with a single up the middle off of Falcons closer Jeremy Spezia, and got into scoring position on a Mutter sacrifice bunt. Spezia then struck out pinch-hitter
Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College). It was up to Joyce to keep the game alive but Spezia got him to fly out to end the ballgame.
Seven different Huskies had a hit in Thursday's game. Dunham extended his current reached base streak to 15 games by going 1-for-4 with an RBI. Szczasny was 1-for-2 with two walks. Mutter was 1-for-3 with an RBI as Drobushevich was 1-for-4. Lasiewicz allowed two runs on five hits in five innings, striking out four with four walks but took a no decision.
"We got to come back tomorrow and be ready to go," Kunigonis said. "We have to show better effort and better energy than we did today."
Game two of this weekend's series between the Huskies and Falcons is set for 1 p.m. Friday.
--NIU--
