Northern Illinois Edged by Eastern Michigan, 4-3, in Series Opener :: Feeney's complete game not enough as Huskies are unable to hold onto a 3-1 lead

	Jordin Hood went 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored and extended his career-best hit streak to 12 games.

April 25, 2008

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DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois held a 3-1 lead through five innings, but Eastern Michigan rallied for three runs after a brief rain delay for a 4-3 win Friday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field. The Huskies (17-21, 9-7) got a complete game effort from Trevor Feeney (Channahon, Ill./Joliet Catholic) but came up one-run short against the first-place Eagles (15-24, 11-2).

The teams traded runs in the first with Eastern Michigan scoring on a RBI single by Aaron Powell. In the bottom of the frame, Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) doubled and scored one batter later on a single by Justin Behm (Downers Grove, Ill./North).

Bobby Stevens (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep) broke the tie in the fifth with a double to left center that scored pinch-runner Anthony Maziur (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) to put the Huskies ahead 2-1. Two batters later, Stevens scored on a double by Hood down the right field line for a two-run NIU lead.

The Eagles got back within a run in the sixth when a wild pitch scored Kyle Road from third to make it 3-2. After a 10-minute rain stoppage, EMU knotted the game at three on a RBI single by Jeff Davis.

Two innings later, Eastern Michigan took the lead in the eighth when Steve Bradshaw's single plated Road.

Feeney (3-4) scattered 12 hits but yielded just two earned runs and one walk in his MAC-leading third complete game of the season.

Stevens, Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem), and Hood, the top three men in the NIU order, each contributed two hits in the game.

Sean Hoffman (2-2) worked 7.1 innings and allowed eight hits and three earned runs without issuing a walk for the win. Robert Wendzicki held the Huskies hitless over 1.2 innings for his eighth save of the season.

NOTE: Game time for Saturday's contest between the Huskies and Eagles has been moved up an hour and will now begin at noon. Pending Sunday's forecast, Saturday's schedule may be changed to a doubleheader instead of a single game. As a result, Sunday's junior open house has been rescheduled to Sunday, May 4, the final game of NIU's series vs. Central Michigan.

HUSKIE TRACKS
-Northern Illinois scored in the first inning for the 13th time in the last 14 games.
-Jordin Hood and Justin Behm each extended career-long hit streaks, to 12 and 11 games, respectively. Hood's 12-gamer equals the second-highest by a Huskie this season, set by Jeff Thomas in the first dozen games of the year.
-Trevor Feeney moved into sole possession of fifth place on the NIU career strikeouts list with 169 and sixth on the all-time innings list with 242.1.
-Bobby Stevens recorded his team-best 17th multi-hit game of the season.