Baseball Swept by Northern Illinois

Sunday, February 29

Carbondale, Ill.

12:00 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

0-9

Northern Illinois

4-2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Illinois	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	6	12	1
Southern Illinois	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	5	10	2

02/29/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 29, 2004

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Jeremy Busch went 3-for-4 with a run scored, a double, three RBI and one stolen base to lead Northern Illinois (4-2) to a 6-5 win over Southern Illinois (0-9) earlier today at Abe Martin Field. With the win, the Huskies became the third straight opponent to sweep the Salukis this season.

SIU fell behind from the get-go when starting right-hander Ryan Davis gave up three consecutive hits to open the top of the first. Busch singled to right and moved to second on a throwing error by Davis. Josh Owens and Rob Marconi followed with back-to-back singles, with Marconi's hit knocking in Busch. With one out, Mike Hochhauser registered NIU's fourth hit of the inning to score Owens and give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.

The Salukis pulled to within a run in the bottom of the second, where designated hitter Tyler Schooley hit a one-out double to left. Shortly after his hit, Schooley moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Nathan Boldt grounder to second.

NIU, however, extended its lead in the top of the fourth. Greg Larsen hit a lead off double down the left field line and went to second on a walk by Jake Blair. Anthony Venetucci followed with a SAC-bunt which safely advanced the runners. Larsen and Blair would then score on a two-out double by Bush to push the Huskies' lead to 4-1.

With two away in the bottom of the fourth, a solo home run by Erik Alvarez narrowed the gap to 4-2. Alvarez's long ball, which easily cleared the wall in left, marked the first of his career.

After NIU starter Nick Hall retired six of SIU's next seven hitters in the fifth and sixth, the Huskie offense struck again in the top of the seventh.

This time, Venetucci reached on an infield single with one out and went to second on another throwing error by a Saluki pitcher -- Adam Snyder. Eric Sansouci kept things going with a single before Busch's grounder to short enabled Venetucci to score. One last RBI-single by Owens capped off the attack which gave NIU a 6-2 advantage.

Still fighting, SIU answered with three runs during its turn in the seventh when freshman Kevin Koski decided to make something happen.

Schooley led off the frame with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Boldt. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base, before Koski was able to stretch a routine single to center into a three-RBI hit thanks to a big error by center fielder Sansouci.

After Sansouci mis-played the ball, it rolled all the way to the warning track and Koski never stopped running. In fact, he even ran through a stop sign by third base coach Ken Henderson to score the third run and cut the Huskie lead to 6-5.

P.J. Finigan, who moved to pitch in the eighth, would then strike out three batters and allow only one hit to shut down NIU's offense in the last two innings. However, SIU's offense couldn't back up Finigan's strong relief effort even though it had a golden opportunity to do so in the eighth.

A Cory Newman single and a Alvarez double sparked a one-out rally, but both were stranded when Mark Badgley forced Brendan Lutz to pop up to short and struck out Boldt. Badgley would then sit the Salukis down in order in the ninth to save the 6-5 win.

NIU (12) and SIU (10) combined for 22 hits and each left at least seven runners on base.

In addition to Busch, Owens and Sansouci each had multiple-hits with two apiece.

SIU was led by Schooley who went a perfect 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored, although several Salukis had two hits. Koski followed by going 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI, while Emrick went 2-for-5 and Alvarez finished at 2-for-4 with a homer, a run scored and one RBI.

Additionally, SIU's two through six batters in the lineup struggled by hitting a combined .194 (3-for-21).

Davis fell to 0-3 on the year after a long 3.2 innings in which he gave up eight hits and four runs. He also walked one and struck out three.

Hall picked up the win for NIU and evened his record to 1-1 on the year. He allowed six hits, gave up two runs and struck out three batters in six innings.

As for Badgley, he allowed two hits in three innings en route to his first save.

SIU returns to action during its spring break when it travels to San Antonio, Texas to play in the Irish Classic (Mar. 6-9). The Salukis, who join No. 19 Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas-San Antonio at this year's event, play the Fighting Irish first on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.