DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team was swept in a doubleheader Saturday against the Bowling Green Falcons at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park by scores of 9-3 and 11-1 in seven innings.
Bowling Green (15-10, 12-0 MAC) jumped out a 2-0 lead in game one on a lead-off home run from Nathan Archer and a Jack Krause sacrifice fly. NIU tied the game in the bottom of the first.
JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) and
Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) drew back-to-back walks off of Falcons starting pitcher Nic Good to start the inning. After both runners advanced on a flyout,
Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) grounded out to drive in Gauthier and make the score 2-1. Erato scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 2-2.
The Falcons took back the lead in the top of the second when a two-run home run by Archer, going up 4-2. The Huskies got a run back in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out RBI single from
Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech). Bowling Green extended its lead to 6-3 in the top of the fourth on a two-out, two-run double off the bat of first baseman TJ Takats. Good and relief pitcher Peyton Wilson made that lead hold up, holding NIU to just two hits in the final seven innings. The Falcons tacked on three runs in the sixth to make the final score 9-3.
NIU (10-21, 6-9 MAC) dropped the nightcap 11-1 in seven innings. Bowling Green led 3-1 after three innings and broke the game open with a five-spot in the top of the fifth inning. The Huskies had six hits in the game with
CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) and
Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) each notching two hits.
"Today was disappointing," said head coach
Ryan Copeland. "I thought after yesterday's game we could hang with Bowling Green. I felt good about our chances of taking the series today after yesterday's game, but we just didn't play well. We've got to get more out of our lineup. We have to avoid the big inning defensively."
The Huskies are next in action on Tuesday, April 9 at Eastern Illinois. First pitch is at 3 p.m.
--NIU--
