MURRAY, Ky. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team dropped its series opener at Murray State Saturday afternoon by a score of 13-3 at Reagan Field.

NIU (0-5) opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first. Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland C.C.) led off the game with a single, then moved to second base on an Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) sacrifice. Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) drove Barnes home with a two-out single, making the score 1-0. The Racers tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out RBI double from Drew Vogel.

Murray State (4-0) took the lead in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs off of NIU starting pitcher Reagan Klawiter (Verona, Wis./Madison College). Seth Gardner had a two-run single and Vogel added a two-run double in the frame to give the Racers' a 6-1 lead. The Huskies got a run back in the fourth on a two-out RBI single from Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College). NIU put another run on the board in the top of the fifth when Jack Blazevich (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) scored on a Jacob Pennington wild pitch to make the score 6-3. The Racers pulled away in the bottom of the fifth, scoring six runs to go up 12-3.

"Two separate innings got the best of us in this one," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We need to be better at limiting the big inning. We have our two senior arms on the mound tomorrow so we're excited to have Michael [Lasiewicz] and Kyle [Seebach] get the ball."

Barnes was 2-for-5 at the top of the NIU lineup on Saturday. Designated Hitter Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Ellsworth CC) also had two hits on the day. Freshman Mason Ruh (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS) made his NIU debut out of the bullpen and threw two scoreless innings with a strikeout.

NIU and Murray State will play a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 27, starting with a seven-inning game at 12 p.m. followed by a nine-inning game.

—NIU—