TOLEDO, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University baseball team was held to two hits by the Toledo Rockets on Saturday in a 10-0 loss in seven innings at Scott Park.
Toledo (30-21, 21-14 MAC) got on the board first when John Servello hit a two-out, solo home run over the left field fence off of NIU starting pitcher
Tommy Meyer (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa East). Garret Pike then hit a single to left field and stole both second and third base. Mason Sykes drove in Pike with a double to make the score 2-0.
NIU (12-37, 11-22 MAC) got its first hit of the game in the top of the second inning on a two-out single by
Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College). The Rockets scored three runs in the bottom half of the frame to go up 5-0. The Huskies had a chance to get on the board in the top of the third. First Baseman
Paxton Kennedy (Mendota, Ill./Illinois Valley CC) led off with a double. After a flyout,
Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, D.R./Ellsworth CC) drew a walk.
Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) beat out a fielder's choice to avoid a double play and give NIU runners at the corners with two outs. Barnes stole second, but Toledo pitcher Connor Brandon struck out
Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) to end the inning.
The Rockets scored a single run in both the fourth and fifth innings to take a 7-0 lead. The Huskies best scoring chance came in the top of the sixth inning. Erato started the threat with a one-out walk.
Scott Combs (Northville, Mich./Michigan State) then reached base after getting hit by a pitch from Brandon. After a strikeout for the second out, Harper drew a walk to load the bases. Brandon got out of the inning by striking out
Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College). Toledo scored a run in the sixth and two in the bottom of the seventh to wrap up a 10-0 win.
"We ran into a good arm in Brandon today," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "He did a good job keeping our hitters off balance. Their hitters made us pay for our mistakes to jump out to an early lead."
Harper reached base in all three plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with two walks. The Huskies drew five walks as a team and left nine runners on base.
NIU and Toledo wrap up their four-game series on Sunday, May 15 with first pitch being moved up to 11 a.m. CT.
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