March 28, 2008

Box Score in PDF Format

Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Northern Illinois dropped a 3-2 decision to Bowling Green in Friday afternoon's series opener at Warren E. Steller Field. The loss was the first for the Huskies this season in MAC play and puts their record at 9-12 overall, 3-1 in conference.

"They put the leadoff man on through the first six innings and we were only able to get our leadoff hitter on once and that is a tough way to play," said head coach Ed Mathey. "To have a 3-2 game is a testament to how well Trevor Feeney pitched for us today. He battled and even though he was saddled with the loss, he didn't deserve that fate. Offensively it is difficult to get anything going when you only get four hits. You've got to give credit to their pitcher because he threw well and was around the strike zone all game."

With the Falcons ahead 1-0, Danny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn./North Iowa Area CC) evened the game at one by belting a solo home run, his second in the last three games, in the top of the second inning.

The Huskies took the lead in the third on a RBI single by Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) that scored Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central), who had singled earlier in the frame to extend his hitting streak to eight games.

In the bottom half of the third, Bowling Green tied the score at two on a RBI single of its own and one inning later, the Falcons took the lead for good at 3-2 on a RBI double by Andrew Foster.

From there, the Huskies were held hitless after the fourth inning and were only able to put one runner on base, a ninth inning walk to Dave Reynolds (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg), for the remainder of the contest.

Frank Berry (3-0) earned the complete game victory while limiting NIU to just four hits and two runs on the afternoon for BGSU (9-7, 1-0).Feeney (Channahon, Ill./Joliet Catholic) took the hard-luck loss (1-3) after he scattered 12 hits but allowed just two earned runs over 7.0 innings of work.

Hood, Reed, Minogue and Brian Smith (Chicago Ridge, Ill./Richards) had the Huskie hits.

The Huskies and Falcons will play the middle game of their series Saturday afternoon at noon CDT. Coverage will be available on CSTV's GameTracker.

HUSKIE TRACKS
-Trevor Feeney moved into 10th place on NIU's career strikeouts list with 150 and ranks 10th on the school's career innings list with 210.2.
-Northern Illinois' winning streak against MAC East opponents ended at five games.
-The Huskies four hits was their lowest output since April 18, 2007 at Iowa, a span of 46 games.
-Danny Reed has hit safely in 19 of 21 games this season.

-NIU-