March 14, 2010

Box Score

Final Box

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - The Northern Illinois baseball team had seven players record at least one hit but struggled to get started against UC Santa Barbara starter Jesse Meaux, and the Huskies (3-12) dropped the series finale 13-4 Sunday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

NIU finished its California spring break trip with a 3-6 record.

"Too many walks and errors got us in trouble today,” said head coach Ed Mathey. “We started the road trip out so positively and it is disappointing to end the trip this way. We have some time off to get ready for our series with Southern Illinois, who is very comparable to a Mid-American Conference team."

UCSB (8-4) scored at least one run in all but one inning, collected 14 hits and drew 10 walks. Sophomore starter Kyle Glancy (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest ) (0-2), making his first start of the season, allowed seven runs (five earned) on seven hits over 3.2 innings. The 6-foot-3 left-hander struck out three batters and walked three in his fourth career start.

The Huskies, who pounded out eight hits, had a base runner advance to third in four consecutive innings and broke through with two runs in the seventh and ninth innings.

With one out in the seventh inning, junior outfielder Cory Krupp (Cary, Ill./Santa Barbara City College) reached on an error by the right fielder and advanced to third base. Sophomore second baseman Alex Beckmann (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) followed with an RBI groundout to score Krupp and the Huskies were on the board. After a walk and single, senior Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) drove sophomore Alex Jones (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) home with a two-out RBI single.

The Huskies added two runs in the ninth with only one hit. Beckmann ripped a leadoff double and advanced to third after a walk and hit-by-pitch. Beckmann trotted home after junior Joe Etcheverry (Bakersfield, Calif./Centennial) reached on an error and sophomore Troy White (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) followed with sacrifice fly that scored Jones.

White went 2-for-4 with an RBI and collected his second stolen base of the season in the fourth inning. White, who had a four-hit effort against Cal Poly on March 9, was 13-for-37 (.351) on the road trip and raised his season batting average (.250) over 160 points.

Hood picked up his 11th RBI of the season in the seventh inning and is now tied with junior Joe Etcheverry for the team lead. Hood led NIU with four home runs, 7 RBI, 10 runs scored and 23 total bases on the road trip.

Krupp collected his team-high sixth stolen base of the season in the fifth inning and Jones scored two runs. Beckmann was 1-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.

NIU is back in action Friday, March 19 when they travel south to face intrastate rival Southern Illinois for the first of a three-game series. First pitch from Carbondale is set for 3 p.m. CT.

- NIU -