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March 13, 2008
DALLAS, Texas - Northern Illinois and Dallas Baptists combined for 19 runs and 23 hits Thursday night before the home team prevailed 11-8 at Patriot Field. The Huskies (3-9) held a 7-5 advantage before the Patriots (10-4), who received votes in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, mounted a comeback keyed by a five-run seventh inning. "We had a chance to win the game, but unfortunately our pitching didn't get us through tonight," said head coach Ed Mathey. "We faced another very good ballclub and they threw some good arms at us. I thought we played hard and offensively we had a good approach and got some two-out hits. Matt Jernstad battled but got behind and threw a lot of pitches. That forced us to our bullpen and they gave up five runs and that was the difference in the game." NIU got on the board early with a pair of runs in the top of the first on a RBI triple by Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Crystal Lake) and a RBI single by Dave Reynolds (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg). Ahead 2-1 in the top of the second, the Huskies added a pair of runs to extend their lead to three. Brian Smith (Chicago Ridge, Ill./Richards) belted a solo home run, his first of the season, and Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) manufactured a run by reaching on a single, stealing second and advancing to third on a fly out before scoring on a single by Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem). A two-run home run by Jason Krizan gave the Patriots their first lead of the game at 5-4 in the fourth. NIU knotted the game at five in the fourth when Tim Kamin (Oak Lawn, Ill./Richards) scored on an error. One inning later, the Huskies reclaimed the lead behind a sacrifice fly by Justin Behm (Downers Grove, Ill./North) and a wild pitch that allowed Danny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn./North Iowa Area CC) to score from third to make it a 7-5 NIU advantage. Behm doubled home Reed in the seventh to give the Huskies an 8-6 lead before Dallas Baptist answered in the bottom half of the frame by scoring five runs on four hits and one error in the seventh to take the lead for good. NIU had one last chance in the ninth and put a pair of runners on base before the game ended with the tying run at the plate. Thomas, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games, and Reed, whose hit streak reached 10, joined Bobby Stevens (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep) with two hits in the game while Behm led the Huskies with two RBI. Dave Nykiel (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) took the loss in relief (0-1). DBU's Ryan Millard improved to 3-0 with the win before Tyson Bagley notched his fourth save. The Huskies and Patriots will play game two of their three-game series Friday night at 6:30 p.m. HUSKIE TRACKS -NIU-
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