March 26, 2008

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Northern Illinois raced out to a 5-2 lead and held on for a 5-4 victory Wednesday afternoon at Iowa. The win improved the Huskies record to 9-11 on the season and 8-5 on the road.

"To be a Big Ten team is a good feather in our cap," said head coach Ed Mathey. "Dave Reynolds did another fine job for us on the mound today and we got out to a fast start offensively."

The Huskies went ahead early when Dave Reynolds (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) singled home Bobby Stevens (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep), who had led off the game with a double off the left field fence, in the top of the first.

NIU took a 3-0 advantage in the third on a sacrifice fly by Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill/Lake Zurich) that scored Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) and a bases-loaded walk that plated Stevens.

After a two-run double by Justin Toole drew Iowa within a run in the third, the Huskies scored twice in the fourth to make it 5-2.

Joe Etcheverry (Bakersfield, Calif./Centennial) led off the inning with a double and eventually came in the score on a wild pitch and Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) delivered a ringing hit to right center that scored Stevens.

Toole trimmed the Huskie lead back to one in the seventh with a RBI single.

Iowa threatened in the ninth, placing the tying run 90 feet away and the winning run at first before Andy Deain (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) closed it out for his second save of the season.

Reynolds (2-0) notched his second victory in as many starts going 5.2 innings while scattering seven hits and three earned runs along with six strikeouts.

Starter Zach Kenyon (0-1) took the loss for the Hawkeyes (7-9).

Stevens scored three runs and Minogue collected three hits to pace the Huskie offense.

Northern Illinois returns to MAC play this weekend with a three-game series at Bowling Green starting Friday afternoon in Ohio.

HUSKIE TRACKS
-Dave Reynolds recorded a career-high six strikeouts and eclipsed his previous season total entering the game.
-Ed Mathey improved his record to 7-5 against Big Ten opponents.
-Pat Minogue tied his season-high with three hits while extending his hitting streak to eight games.
-Danny Reed's career-best hitting streak ended at 17 games, the second longest on record at NIU. He has hit safely in 18 of 20 games this season.

-NIU-