CARBONDALE, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team could not hold off a late rally Friday afternoon in a 7-4 loss to the Bellarmine Knights at Itchy Jones Stadium.
The Huskies led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Bellarmine got a Josh Finerty double and a Clayton Mehlbauer single to get runners at the corners with no outs. An error allowed Finerty to score and tie the game 3-3. Jacob Mulcahy then loaded the bases with a single. Davis Crane put the Knights ahead 5-3 with a double off of NIU relief pitcher
Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian), scoring Mehlbauer and Chris Gambert. The lead grew to 6-3 on a two-out RBI single from catcher Alex Cleverly.
NIU (5-19) got a run back in the top of the eighth on
Kam Smith's second home run of the season, making the score 6-4. Bellarmine put the lead back to three runs when a Mulcahy solo home run in the bottom of the inning made the score 7-4. The Knights' closer Anthony Ethington made the lead stand up as he retired the Huskies in order in the ninth to secure the win.
The Huskies put an early run on the board when designated hitter
Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) led off the game with a home run over the left field fence off of Bellarmine starting pitcher Deylen Miley.
Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) kept the Knights scoreless through the first four innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Bellarmine (10-17) had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the third after Finerty led off with a triple. Lasiewicz then got a groundout and struck out Gambert and Mulcahy to get out of the inning and keep the Knights scoreless. Drobushevich extended the Huskies' lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth with his second home run of the game, a solo shot just inside the left field fair pole. Two batters later Smith hit a home run over the left field fence to put NIU ahead 3-0.
"Kam and Nick both had very good days offensively," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We scattered seven other hits and couldn't piece together enough of them to put up a big inning, but we had our chances. We need to bounce back and be ready to play a good SIU team that is playing very well right now."
Drobushevich was 2-for-5 in the game while Smith was 2-for-4 as both players each hit a pair of home runs.
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) had three hits. Lasiewicz struck out eight batters in six-plus innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and three walks.
The Huskies take on Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
--NIU--
