Baseball falls to Northern Illinois, 7-5

Saturday, March 19

Carbondale, Ill.

2:30 PM

Southern Illinois University

4-14

Northern Illinois

5-10

Northern Illinois

Southern Illinois

03/19/2011 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

March 19, 2011

By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois committed a season-high four errors in a 7-5 loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday at Abe Martin Field.

SIU's eighth-straight loss drops its record down to 4-14 on the year while NIU's fifth-consecutive victory improves its overall record to 5-10.

"We just made too many mistakes," interim head coach Ken Henderson said. "You cannot win games and make that many mistakes. We're a better ball club that what we are showing right now."

Five of NIU's seven runs in the game came in an ugly second inning for Southern. Two Saluki errors in the frame allowed NIU to score three unearned runs, which proved to be the difference in the end.

Left-handed pitcher Cody Forsythe (2-3) drew the loss for Southern. He gave up seven hits and six runs in six innings. NIU starter Tony Manville (1-1) registered the victory despite giving up 11 hits in six innings. Kyle Glancy recorded the save Saturday for Northern.

The Salukis came into the game with just one triple on the year, but three-baggers from Brock Harding and Wes Neece in the game drove in three of Southern's five runs.

Neece's triple in the sixth inning brought SIU within one run, 6-5, but the Salukis could not tie it up in the final three innings and NIU added one run in the ninth.

Harding finished the game going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and one run scored. Chris Murphy also had three hits in the game and he scored two runs.

SIU racked up four hits and two runs in the first inning off of RBI singles Harding and Donny Duschinsky.