March 19, 2010

Final Stats

Final Box

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Two crooked-number innings did the Northern Illinois baseball team in against the Southern Illinois Salukis in Game One of a three-game series on Friday evening at Abe Martin Field, where the Huskies (3-13) fell to the Salukis (6-11) by a score of 19-4.

"What Southern did today was stringing four or five quality at-bats together, and that builds momentum," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "They did that four times today. We were not able to do that. We shot ourselves in the foot in the first inning by not getting a bunt down. We did well to get a run out of that inning with two outs, but that could have been a big inning, and could have changed the outcome of the game."

After NIU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Troy White double past first base that scored Jordin Hood, who reached on a walk, SIU answered with four runs in the second frame and six in the fifth to help put away the Huskies. SIU would later add six more runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to ensure a 1-0 advantage in the series.

In all, the Salukis scored their 19 runs on 22 hits and eight walks, while the Huskies used nine hits and five walks to register four runs, which came one at a time in the first, third, fourth, and eighth frames. Hood's line-drive double to left field in the third scored Marvin Sanchez, who reached on a one-out walk. Jake Hermsen blasted a mammoth home run against the wind to center field in the fourth, which brought the Huskies within a run, 4-3, on his second career homer, and second this month. Hermsen rounded out the NIU scoring in the eighth with a single through the left side to score Wes Shryock after he reached on a hit-by-pitch as a pinch-hitter for White.

SIU reliever Daniel Etienne picked up his first decision of the year with the win by throwing four innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts, after NIU chased Saluki starter Ryan Bradley out of the game early, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts in four innings of work.

Huskie starter Zach Oates showed flashes of dominance by easily handling the first, third and fourth frames, but it was the second and fifth innings that caught up to him, dropping his record to 1-3 on the year. In the second inning jam, with two runners in scoring position and one out, he struck out the eight-hitter and induced the nine-hitter into a grounder that could have gotten him out of the jam, but the ball found its way through the middle to open up the flood gates for SIU. Oates came back strong in the third with a perfect inning and a pair of strikeouts, and got a double-play ball to erase a lead-off walk to help him get through the fourth unscathed. In the fifth inning jam, however, the pitches started to pile up for him and SIU took advantage of it, chasing him from the game after surrendering 10 runs on 10 hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings.

"Southern put us in a tough situation," Mathey said. "Zach was stretched a bit, but not too much, and then Tom [Zelasko] couldn't get us out of it. Then we went to Brian [Smith] because he needs work coming back from his injury, and he just didn't have it today.

"They had the quality at-bats today, and we didn't. That's what it came down to. Southern came out with a sense of urgency today. They have been in a rut lately, and they are not going to back off now. We need that sense of urgency."

Offensively, the Huskies were led by Hermsen's two hits and two RBI, while Alex Jones also added two hits.

NIU and SIU were supposed to play one game on each of the next two days, but due to a threatening Sunday forecast, the teams will complete the series with a doubleheader tomorrow, starting with a noon CDT first pitch. Game Two will start approximately 30 minutes after completion of Game One, and both will be nine-inning contests.