TOLEDO, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University baseball team split its series-opening doubleheader against the Toledo Rockets at Scott Park on Friday afternoon, winning the seven-inning opener 8-1 before the hosts won game two 11-3 in nine innings.
"We did a very nice job in game one to start the day on a high note," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "In game two we needed to be better in limiting Toledo's free bases, both on the mound and in the field. All told, it was a hard fought day by both sides."
Game one started as a pitcher's duel between Toledo's Kyle Jones and NIU's
Matt Salomonson (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep). Jones retired the first six batters he faced, while Salomonson recorded three strikeouts and left five Rockets on base in the first two innings.
NIU (12-36, 11-21 MAC) got its first hit in the top of the third on a leadoff single by
Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College). After an
Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) sacrifice bunt moved Kelley to second,
Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) and
Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, D.R./Ellsworth CC) drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out. Jones ended the Huskies' threat with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game scoreless.
The Huskies broke through for the game's first run in the top of the fourth.
Scott Combs (Northville, Mich./Michigan State) and
Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) led off with back-to-back infield singles. After a strikeout Kelley singled up the middle to drive home Combs from second and put NIU up 1-0. Jones got out of the inning by getting Demetral to hit into a double play. NIU tacked onto the lead in the fifth. With runners at second and third and two outs, a wild pitch on a strike three allowed Aranda to score from third to put the score at 2-0 with Combs reaching base. Harper then launched a three-run home run over the left field fence to give NIU a 5-0 lead.
The Rockets put a run on the board in the bottom of the fifth, but NIU extended the lead in the top of the seventh. The Huskies scored three runs on a Combs RBI single and a two-run single by Kelley to go up 8-1, which went on to be the final score. Kelley and Harper were a combined 6-for-8 in the game with six RBI. Salomonson earned the win, allowing one unearned run in four innings on six hits with five strikeouts.
Nick Bonk (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) threw three shutout innings of relief to close the game, scattering just two hits with a career-high six strikeouts.
"Matt and Nick did a fantastic job on the mound and we came up with some big hits to capitalize on a few of Toledo's miscues," Kunigonis said.
Toledo (29-21, 20-14 MAC) took the lead in the bottom of the first inning in game two when Darryn Davis cleared the bases with a two-out, three-run single that put the Rockets up 3-0. NIU got a run back in the top of the second on a bases loaded walk to Barnes, making the score 3-1. Toledo put its lead back to three in the bottom half of the second inning when a two-out RBI single from Scott Mackiewicz gave the Rockets a 4-1 advantage.
The Huskies closed within a run in the top of the third. With runners at the corners and one out, Kelley reached on a fielder's choice to score Erato from third to make the score 4-2. After a Demetral single gave NIU runners at first and second,
Tyler Thierry (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) delivered a single to left field to bring Kelley around to score and put the tally at 4-3. Toledo pulled away with four unanswered runs over the next three innings, taking an 8-3 lead through five.
Toledo relief pitcher Kyle Pijaszek made that lead hold up, entering the game in the sixth and holding NIU to one hit over three innings. The Rockets scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to make the final score 11-3.
The game time for Saturday's game between the Huskies and Rockets has been moved to 10 a.m. CT, two hours earlier than the previously scheduled 12 p.m. first pitch.
--NIU--
