YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team opened its final Mid-American Conference series of the year Thursday afternoon with an 11-2 loss at Oestrike Stadium to the Eastern Michigan Eagles.
Eastern Michigan (25-26, 10-18 MAC) got on the board first with a three-run home run off the bat of right fielder Kyle Schroedle in the bottom of the second inning. NIU had a chance to get back in the game in the top of the third. With two outs in the inning,
Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) drew a walk off of Eagles starting pitcher Thomas House. Shortstop
Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) followed with a single up the middle to give NIU runners at second and third. House got out of the inning by getting
Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto CC) to ground into a fielder's choice.
NIU (10-41, 5-22 MAC) put a run on the board in the top of the fourth. The first three batters in the inning -
Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy),
Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) and
Tyler Thierry (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) - all drew walks. House battled back with a foul out and strikeout. With two outs,
Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) drew the fourth base on balls of the inning to bring in Summerhill and make the score 3-1.
The Eagles broke the game open with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. A three-run home run by centerfielder Logan Hugo capped the inning, putting Eastern Michigan up 10-1. The Huskies put another run on the board in the fifth. Harper hit a one-out double to left field, and scored when Summerhill hit a double of his own to make the score 10-2. House held the Huskies in check from there, allowing just two hits and two walks over the next three innings. The Eagles tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 11-2.
NIU had five hits in the game and drew 10 walks. Erato, Demetral, Harper, Summerhill and Peters each had a hit from the first five spots in the Huskies lineup.
Mason Ruh (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS) started the game on the mound for NIU, allowing nine earned runs on 10 hits in five innings. Reliever
Caleb Pittman (Suffolk, Va./Bryant & Stratton College) allowed one run on three hits over three innings.
The Huskies and Eagles play the middle game of this weekend's series on Friday, May 19 at 2 p.m. CT.
—NIU—