April 16, 2008

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CHICAGO, Ill. - The Northern Illinois baseball team could not snap No. 29 Notre Dame's ten-game winning streak as the Huskies fell, 5-4, in front of a school-record 4,600 fans at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday night.

In a game that had four lead changes, the Fighting Irish (23-9-1) came out on top after a three-base Huskie error in the eighth inning allowed Notre Dame's Ross Brezovsky to give the Irish a 5-4 lead on an RBI groundout.

The Huskies (15-17) plated two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead off an RBI single from Justin Behm (Downers Grove, Ill./North) that scored Pat Minogue (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central), who led off the game with a single to center. A sacrifice fly from Dave Reynolds (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) plated Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) for NIU's second run.

Notre Dame pushed two runs across on the top of the fourth on a two-run single up the middle by Sean Gaston to knot the game, 2-2.

NIU reclaimed the lead, 3-2, in the bottom half of the fourth after a wild pitch from Notre Dame starter Ryan Sharpley allowed Danny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn./North Iowa Area CC) to score from third.

The Irish countered with a pair of runs, including a solo home run to right field by Jeremy Barnes, to take a 4-3 lead in the fifth frame.

The Huskies tied the game at four in the fifth inning with Reynolds' second sacrifice fly of the game, scoring Thomas.

Minogue, Behm, Reed and Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) each had hits for NIU. Reynolds added two RBI and Behm also drove in a run.

Steven Mazur (1-0) earned his first win of the year for the Irish after pitching two innings in relief, giving up no runs on one hit with two strikeouts. Kyle Weiland picked up his sixth save of the year.

Brandon Copp (Aurora, Ill./West) took the loss (1-4) for the Huskies after giving up an unearned run in relief on one hit with two walks and three strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work.

Northern Illinois returns to MAC play this weekend with a three-game series beginning Friday at West Division rival Toledo.

HUSKIE TRACKS

-NIU has registered a stolen base in 11 straight games and has nine consecutive games with two or more steals.

-Huskies have scored a run in the first inning in six consecutive games and have plated 45 runs in the first frame this year.

-Bobby Stevens has been hit by a pitch in six straight games and has been hit 16 times this year, which ties NIU's fourth-highest single season total.

-NIU-