April 2, 2008

Box Score

DeKALB, Ill. - Jordin Hood drove in the game-winning run with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Northern Illinois University a 3-2 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team on Wednesday afternoon. With the extra-inning decision, the Huskies (10-14) hand the Panthers (5-17) their seventh one-run loss of the season.

"It's very frustrating to say the least," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "I thought the guys played really hard today. But when you look at the scoreboard - in the first and last inning they scored - that we walked a batter and, inevitably, that will come back to haunt you. It was a good hardball game besides that; we just couldn't get a two-out hit. That was the difference - we had two or three opportunities and couldn't come through with one."

A one-out walk in the 10th gave NIU a base-runner and a passed ball advanced the winning run to second base. After an intentional walk set up a force out, Hood's single allowed the home team to escape with the victory.

Milwaukee did have the winning run in scoring position with just one out in the top of the 10th, but left sophomore Wes Munson, who had singled to start the inning, stranded at second after a pop up and a flyout.

Senior Troy Vesling knotted the score in the seventh, plating senior Nick Wichser with a single up the middle after Wichser had doubled. Northern Illinois had taken a 2-1 lead in the fifth, plating an unearned run after two were out in the inning.

The game had become quite a pitcher's duel between the starters, with UWM junior Tim Hoy and NIU's Brandon Copp combining to face just one batter over the minimum in the second through fourth innings, with Copp retiring 13 of 14 Milwaukee batters at one point.

Hoy ended his outing with 5.0 solid innings of work, allowing six hits and just two runs - one earned - striking out five and walking two. Freshman Cuyler Franzke followed, recording his fourth-straight scoreless outing. He threw a season-high 3.0 innings, allowing just two NIU hits. Junior Jordan Herbert (0-4) suffered the loss despite two strikeouts in 1.1 innings on the mound.

"After Timmy (Hoy) settled down in the first, he did a great job," Doffek said. "And, Cuyler (Franzke) was outstanding. He went 3+ innings and gave us a great chance to win."

Both teams plated a run in the first, with Milwaukee jumping onto the scoreboard right away in the top of the frame when Wichser extended his hitting streak to 14 games, singling in senior Jesse Hart with two outs.

Hart finished with one hit, but it was an historic one for him - recording career hit No. 200 in the first inning, a line drive down the right field line that he legged into a double. He became just the fourth player in the history of the program to reach that career mark.

Milwaukee returns to town tonight before heading back to Illinois for the weekend, traveling to Carbondale for a three-game set with Southern Illinois starting Friday at 2 p.m.