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Northern Illinois Posts 8-5 Win Over Western Michigan, Takes Rubber Game on Senior Day
May 17, 2008
DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois took a 4-1 lead in the third inning and won going away in a 8-5 victory over Western Michigan in the rubber game of the series and the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field. Fittingly, three seniors Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem), Tim Kamin (Oak Lawn, Ill./Richards) and Matt Jernstad (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) played prominent roles in the outcome as the Huskies (26-24) tied the school-record for MAC victories and set a mark for MAC winning percentage with the victory. NIU's second-place finish in the West Division and its fourth-place finish overall both match school bests. "It was a great day and a great crowd and it was nice to get a win and carry some momentum into the conference tournament," said head coach Ed Mathey. "I thought we did a nice job defensively, turned a big double play to get out of the eighth and had a couple of nifty plays at second by Marvin Sanchez. We swung the bats well today, especially at the top of the lineup with Jeff Thomas and Bobby Stevens setting the tone at the top of the lineup with three hits each." After Western Michigan scored the game's first run in the top of the second on a solo home run by Kyle Gendron, Northern Illinois answered and knotted the game at one when Matt Behren (Elmwood Park, Ill./Holy Cross) scored on a RBI groundout by Marvin Sanchez (Chicago, Ill/Clemente Academy). One inning later, the Huskies struck for three runs to take a 4-1 lead. Thomas led off with a double to left and stole third ahead of a double by Bobby Stevens (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep) that gave NIU its first lead of the afternoon. Two batters later, Kamin belted a two-run home run to straight away centerfield that put the home team ahead by three. The Broncos countered in the fourth on a leadoff home run by Pedro Dager, only to be answered by a pair of Huskie runs in the bottom of the inning. With runners at first and second, Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) singled to left field, scoring Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) and an error by the leftfielder allowed Thomas to score and Hood to take second base on the play, giving NIU a 6-2 lead. Three unearned runs in the top of the fifth drew Western Michigan within a run at 6-5. the Huskies got a run in the sixth when Minogue scored on a groundout by Hood and a tally in the seventh on a double by Dave Reynolds (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) that plated senior Danny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn./North Iowa Area CC). Jernstad (3-4) notched the win by tossing 5.0 innings while allowing two earned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts. Senior Dan Atkenson (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) struck out four in 2.1 innings of scoreless relief ahead of a scoreless ninth by Andy Deain (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge), who posted his MAC-leading 10th save of the season.
Thomas collected three hits, including a career-high two doubles, and scored a pair of runs in the game. Stevens also had three hits and Minogue had two runs scored on the afternoon. Starter Ross Westdorp (3-6) took the loss for Western Michigan (29-21-1, 12-12), who will be the seventh seed in the MAC Tournament. Northern Illinois' next game will be Wednesday at the MAC Tournament in Chillicothe, Ohio. The fourth-seeded Huskies will face No. 5 seed Ball State at 3 p.m. CT. All of NIU's postseason games can be heard locally on WLBK (1360-AM) and worldwide on NIUHuskies.com. HUSKIE TRACKS -NIU-
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