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Kam Smith
Scott Walstrom, NIU
5
Northern Illinois NIU 0-2
8
Winner Evansville UE 3-3
Northern Illinois NIU
0-2
5
Final
8
Evansville UE
3-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Northern Illinois NIU 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 5 6 3
Evansville UE 3 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 X 8 9 1

W: Croner, Nathan (1-1) L: Thomas, Nate (0-1) S: Meyer, Jakob (2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Huskies’ Rally Falls Short At Evansville 8-5

EVANSVILLE, IN – The Northern Illinois University baseball team dropped its second straight game at Evansville Saturday afternoon, falling by a score of 8-5 to the Purple Aces at German American Bank Field.
 
"We battled today and gave ourselves a chance," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "This group is never out of a game and has a great belief in each other. We'll bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow."
 
Evansville (3-3) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and two outs, Simon Scherry doubled to right center off NIU starting pitcher Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) to clear the bases and put the Purple Aces ahead 3-0. Evansville tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run home run by Troy Beilsmith.
 
NIU (0-2) put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) led off with a single, followed by a double from Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School). Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) reached on a fielding error by Evansville shortstop Brent Widder that scored Dunham. Widder's throw on the play allowed Smith to score to make the score 5-2 and let Larson get to second base. Larson got to third on a Jacob Schroeder (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) groundout, then scored on a Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) sacrifice fly that made the score 5-3.
 
The Purple Aces responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to take an 8-3 lead. NIU closed within three in the top of the sixth when Smith hit his first home run of the season, a two-out two run shot that made the score 8-5. The Huskies had a chance to cut into Evansville's lead in the top of the eighth. Dunham drew a walk with one out and got to second on a Smith base hit to centerfield. Larson flew out to right field for the second out of the inning with Dunham reaching third on the play. Evansville got out of the inning when reliever Jakob Meyer struck out Schroeder to end the threat.
 
Smith was 3-for-4 in the game with two RBI and two runs scored. Larson was 1-for-4 with two runs scored. Thomas struck out three batters over his four innings of work, allowing four earned runs on five hits. Erik Hedmark (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown) also threw four innings, allowing a pair of runs on four hits.
 
The two teams wrap up their weekend series Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
--NIU--
 
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