Southern Illinois University
3-8
Northern Illinois
3-6
Baseball loses to Northern Illinois, 8-4
03/06/2009 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 6, 2009
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Righthander Andy Deain allowed just two runs on five hits and struck out three in seven sparkling innings to lead Northern Illinois University (3-6) to an 8-4 win over Southern Illinois (3-8) earlier today at Abe Martin Field.
Deain's runs, both of which were unearned, came in the fifth inning, where the Huskies committed two of their four errors on the day. He also recorded 11 groundball outs and threw a total of 92 pitches.
"Andy did a good job of keeping our hitters off-balance," said Saluki associate head coach Ken Henderson. "We had plenty of opportunities, but simply didn't capitalize."
SIU left 11 runners on base and came up empty with the bases loaded in the third and sixth innings.
Meanwhile, NIU took an early 2-0 lead on Dave Reynolds' two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the first and never looked back.
The Huskies went on to score in four-straight innings, adding two more runs in the third and fourth and one in both the fifth and sixth.
Alex Beckmann drew a one-out walk and went to second on Matt Behren's ensuing single to left. Jordin Hood knocked in both runners when he doubled to right center, giving NIU a 4-0 cushion in the third.
Beckmann's two-out single plated two more runs for the Huskies in the fourth, before Justin Behm led off the fifth with a solo home run after pulling ahead, 3-1, in the count. Marvin Sanchez scored on Hood's base hit to extend NIU's lead to 8-2 in the sixth.
SIU rallied in the bottom of the ninth, but fell short.
Aaron Roberts led off with an infield single and went to second when Scott Elmendorf was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced on Michael Stalter's groundball out to Huskie reliever Kyle Glancey. Mark Kelly scored both runners on a two-out single to left, cutting NIU's lead to 8-4. Tom Zelasko then took the mound and forced Jordan Sivertsen to hit into a fielder's choice to end the game.
Deain improved to 2-0 on the year.
Righthander Adam Curysnki (1-1) suffered the loss for SIU. Curynski, who posted wins in four of his last six starts prior to today, hadn't lost since April 8, 2008 (vs. Illinois). He allowed seven hits and six runs, walked four and struck out four in 3.2 innings.
NIU registered 10 hits, with each of its first seven hitters contributing at least one apiece.
The Huskies received the biggest boost from the heart of their order, where Behren went 3-for-5 with a run scored out of the three-hole and Hood went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI out of the cleanup spot.
Kelly went 2-for-5 with three RBI to lead SIU, which finished with seven hits. He moved into a two-way tie for ninth on the Salukis' all-time career RBI list with 127 runs batted in.
SIU and NIU resume their three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m., CT. Righthander Nathan Forer (0-1) and lefthander Chuck Lukanen (0-2).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: DEAIN, Andy (2-0)
L: Curynski, Adam (1-1)
Batting:
2B: HOOD, Jordin 1
HR: REYNOLDS, Dave 1 ; BEHM, Justin 1
RBI: BECKMANN, Alex 2 ; HOOD, Jordin 3 ; REYNOLDS, Dave 2 ; BEHM, Justin 1
SH: BECKMANN, Alex 1 ; MINOGUE, Pat 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BECKMANN, Alex 2 ; BEHREN, Matt 1 ; REYNOLDS, Dave 1 ; BEHM, Justin 1 ; ETCHEVERRY, Joe 1 ; WHITE, Troy 1 ; SANCHEZ, Marvin 1
SB: HOOD, Jordin 1
Batting:
RBI: Elmendorf, Scott 1 ; Kelly, Mark 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Murphy, Chris 1 ; Elmendorf, Scott 1 ; Roberts, Aaron 2
HBP: Murphy, Chris 1 ; Elmendorf, Scott 1 ; Bullock, Tyler 1
