April 12, 2008

Box Score

NORMAL, Ill. -

                The University of Northern Iowa baseball team pounded out 15 hits, four of them home runs, on the way to an 11-7 win at Illinois State Saturday afternoon. Brett Douglas was 4-of-4 with a home run, two doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored.  The win is the fifth straight for the Panthers (19-10, 7-1).

                Taylor Sinclair (4-1) earned the win for UNI after striking out eight and giving up two earned runs in 6.0 innings of work.  

                Kevin Tokarski hit a one-out single into center field in the bottom of the first.  He moved to second on a ground out, and scored on a single up the middle by Gabe DeMarco to give the Redbirds (13-16, 3-8) an early 1-0 lead.

                Brett Douglas hit a double off the centerfield wall in the top of the second. Travis Hendrix followed with a single into right field to score Douglas and tie the game at 1-1.

                The Redbirds quickly regained the lead on a solo home run from Ronnie Calvird to lead off the bottom of the second.

                Deric Manrique hit a one-out single into center in the top of the third. He stole second, and Dane Embury walked to give UNI runners at first and second. Brandon Douglas put down a bunt that went a third of the way to first before dying just inside the line. He reached safely and both runners advanced to load the bases for the Panthers.  With two outs, Brett Featherston singled into left to score Manrique and Embury and give UNI its first lead of the game, 3-2. Brett Douglas doubled off the wall in left center, sending Brandon Douglas home and scoring Featherston from first to put UNI in front 5-2.

                Illinois State used a double by Tokarski and a pair of Panther errors to get two runs back in the bottom half of that inning, cutting the UNI advantage to 5-4 after three innings.

                ISU put runners on second and third with just one out in the bottom of the fourth. Sinclair got Mike Stalowy to foul out and he struck out Tokarski to get out of the jam without a run scored.

                Brett Douglas gave the Panthers some more breathing room with a solo home run in the top of the sixth that extended the UNI lead to 6-4. Manrique hit a two-out double into left to score Hendrix, who had reached on an ISU error.  Embury followed with a home run into left to score Manrique and put the Panther lead at 9-4.

                The Redbirds put their first two batters on safely in the bottom of the sixth, but Sinclair struck out three straight to end the inning.

                Chris Lopez led off the top of the seventh with a solo home run, giving UNI a 10-4 advantage.

                Kyle Cherney hit a two-RBI single into right center in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the Panther lead to 10-6.

                Brandon Douglas hit a solo home run over the center field wall in the top of the eighth, bringing the score to 11-6.

                ISU answered in the bottom half of the eighth when Kevin Konsler hit a solo shot over the left field wall to trim the Panther lead to 11-7. UNI reliever Joe Gonzalez held ISU scoreless the rest of the way to seal the win for UNI.

                The win gives UNI three straight Missouri Valley Conference series wins for the first time since claiming series wins over Illinois State, Creighton and Bradley in 2005.

                The Panthers and Redbirds will conclude the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.