March 12, 2008

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

FRISCO, Texas - Northern Illinois got 13 hits against No. 25 Oklahoma Wednesday at Dr. Pepper Ballpark but it was not enough to overcome an early deficit in an 11-5 Sooner win. The Huskies fell to 3-8 on the year while Oklahoma improved to 14-2 after the afternoon contest played at the home of the Double-A Texas League Frisco RoughRiders.

"We knew it would be a great test for us against a very good ball club," said head coach Ed Mathey. "When you play a team like Oklahoma, they put a premium on your ability to execute as a team. They hit our pitching mistakes hard and they took advantage of our defensive mistakes. We did some good things; we swung the bats well, put some runs on the board and cut down on our strikeouts. It was a learning experience for us and aside from the outcome, it was a great day for baseball in a beautiful ballpark against a top-25 team."

Northern Illinois scored in the top of the first when Danny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn./North Iowa Area CC) doubled home Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) who had singled one batter earlier. The Sooners, however, struck for three runs in their first at-bat getting two on a triple by Aaron Baker, who later scored on an error to make it 3-1.

The Sooners added a run in second and put up four in the fourth that included a two-run home run by Trey Sperring and a triple by Mike Gosse to extend OU's lead to 8-1.

In the sixth, Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) doubled home Marvin Sanchez (Chicago, Ill./Clemente Academy) and Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) singled home a pair of runs as the Huskies scored three times in the inning to get within 8-4.

The team's traded runs with the Sooners plating a run of their own in the sixth and NIU countering in the eighth on Minogue's second RBI of the afternoon, a single that scored Bobby Stevens (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep).

Up by four in the eighth, Oklahoma put the game out of reach with a three-run frame that made the score 11-5.

Thomas extended his career-best hitting streak to 11 games while Reed followed suit by hitting in his ninth-straight contest while tying for a team-high three hits with Minogue and Stevens.

Trevor Feeney (Channahon, Ill./Joliet Catholic) took the loss to fall to 0-2 after working 5.0 innings with five strikeouts. C.J. Blue gained the win for Oklahoma to improve to 3-0.

NIU faces Dallas Baptist (x-x) Thursday evening in the first of a three-game series that will wrap up the Huskies' spring trip.

HUSKIE TRACKS
-Pat Minogue recorded his first three-hit game of the season.
-NIU had three players with three or more hits in the same game for the first time this season.
-Dave Nykiel moved into a third-place tie on NIU's career appearances list with the 71st of his career.
-The Huskies faced their highest-ranked opponent since opening the 2006 season at No. 12 Arizona State.

-NIU-