April 10, 2012

Final Stats

DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois baseball team hosted its final home contest of an eight-game home stand Tuesday afternoon on a windy, frigid and chilly spring day at Ralph McKinzie Field, falling to Illinois State, 22-3. Zach Badgley and Alex Klonowski combined for three shutout innings for the Huskies in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings on the mound.

"So much of what we do is dictated by what happens on the mound, like the point guard in basketball. We did ok, we got bit a couple of times and we were really affected by non-plays during the game and falling behind in counts," said Head Coach Ed Mathey. "Zach pitched very well for us, he started a little slow, but finished strong. I was disappointed with how some of our at-bats turned out late in the game, including when we left three runners on base in the seventh."

Illinois State led from start-to-finish against the Huskies, posting multiple runs in every inning except for three scoreless innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth. ISU combined for 13 extra base hits, including three home runs with the sustained wind of at least 16 miles per hour blowing out to left centerfield.

Two Huskies accounted for two hits apiece in the contest as leadoff man Alex Jones went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Jordan Huffman was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Badgley entered in the fifth inning and was stalwart on the mound in the sixth and seventh innings, surrendering zero runs and zero hits in both of the innings combined. Klonowski came in during the eighth inning and only allowed one hit but did not allow a single run in the frame.

NIU fell to 8-24 this season with the loss, while Illinois State improved to 20-10. The Huskies will return to action Friday afternoon for a three game series against Miami (Ohio), beginning April 13.