March 23, 2008

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

OLEAN, N.Y. - Northern Illinois scored three times in the top of the ninth to rally for a 6-4 victory Sunday at Buffalo and a weekend sweep of the Bulls. The Huskies (7-10, 3-0), won their fourth consecutive game are off to a 3-0 start in conference play for the second straight season. In addition, NIU completed their first MAC road series sweep under Ed Mathey and improved to 12-0 all-time against Buffalo.

"Any sweep in the MAC is great and to get a sweep on the road is very important for our team," said Mathey. "There are a lot of games to play yet, but starting 3-0 gets you out on top of the standings at the beginning of the season."

Down 4-3 entering the ninth, NIU loaded the bases and tied the game on a passed ball that allowed Bobby Stevens (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep) to score from third. The next batter, Danny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn./North Iowa Area CC) delivered a RBI single that ran his hitting streak to a career-high matching 15 games, and scored Jeff Thomas (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) to give the Huskies their first lead of the afternoon. Dave Reynolds (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) put NIU up by two with a RBI single that brought in Reed.

"Pat Minogue had a great at bat and fought off some pitches in his at-bat to start the inning and got on base with a single," said Mathey. "Then Bobby drew a walk and Jeff laid down a great bunt to load up the bases. Pat got thrown out at the plate, but we got the tying run and Danny did a nice job to put the ball in play and give us the lead before an insurance run."

With Buffalo up 1-0, NIU knotted the game in fourth behind a RBI single by Tim Kamin (Oak Lawn, Ill./Richards) that scored Justin Behm (Downers Grove, Ill./North).

The Bulls regained the lead with solo home runs by Adam Sonieczki and Rob Mancini to lead off the fifth and sixth innings before the Huskies trimmed the lead back to one in the seventh when Thomas delivered a RBI single and evened the game at three in the eighth on Kamin's second RBI of the game.

The home team pulled ahead in the bottom of the eighth Jacob Rosenbeck led off with a triple and scored on a RBI single by Chris Ciesla that made it 4-3 UB.

Andy Deain (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) picked up his first win of the season (1-0) with a scoreless ninth. Reliever Steve Geltz took the loss (0-1) for Buffalo (5-14, 0-3).

Huskie starter Matt Jernstad (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) worked 5.1 innings and allowed three hits and two earned runs in a no-decision.

Reynolds paced the Huskie offense by tying his career-high with four hits and Kamin also equaled his career-high with three hits while leading the team with two RBI.

NIU is back in action Tuesday with its home opener, a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m., against the Bradley Braves. The second game of the doubleheader will air live on WBLK (1360 AM) in DeKalb and worldwide via NIUHuskies.com.

HUSKIE TRACKS
-Danny Reed's 15-game hitting streak matches his career-best, set last season, and is tied for the second-longest on record at NIU.
-The sweep of Buffalo was the first MAC road sweep by Northern Illinois under head coach Ed Mathey. It also marked the Huskies first road sweep since taking all three games at Southern Illinois in 2004.
-Dave Reynolds, who equaled his career high with five RBI in Saturday's first game, matched his career-best hit total set March 15, 2007 vs. Fordham.
-Tim Kamin's three hits equaled his career-best set at Toledo on May 19, 2007.
-Matt Jernstad's 32nd career start moved him into sole possession of eighth place on NIU's all-time list.

-NIU-