University of Toledo
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Northern Illinois
5/4/2002 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
TOLEDO, OH - Toledo (16-26, 8-12 MAC) split its doubleheader (5-4 W, 4-0 L) this afternoon with Northern Illinois (19-26, 7-10 MAC) at Scott Park.
In the opener, Toledo exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to erase a four-run deficit and escape with a one-run victory. Senior 3B Mike Meinhart highlighted the offensive explosion for UT with a solo home run to cap off the comeback and account for the winning run.
Sophomore RF Jarrod Resendez led off the inning with a walk. After a double by sophomore C Mitch Maier to put runners on second and third with no outs, junior 2B Taylor Eckel hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Resendez for UT's first tally of the frame. Junior LF J.D. Foust tied the score as he belted a fastball from NIU starter Zach Minor over the fence in left field for his 10th home run of the season and set up Meinhart for his late-inning heroics.
Senior RHP Kris Barnsnwell (2-4) picked up the win for UT with a complete-game performance limiting the Huskies to nine hits, while fanning four.
Maier (2-for-4) and Foust (2-for-3) led the Rockets offensively with two hits apiece, while Foust added two RBI.
Northern Illinois opened the scoring in the second inning on an RBI single up the middle by Dave Garcia. Garcia finished with two hits.
Toledo tied the score at 1-1 in the third when Resendez scored on a wild pitch from third from Minor (2-4).
NIU reclaimed the lead with two runs in the fourth and added a single run in the fifth, before the Rockets turned it on in the bottom of the fifth.
In the second game, it was a classic pitching battle between NIU?s Mark Skrukrud and UT's Todd Thomas.
Skrukrud (5-4) outdueled Thomas and the Rockets with a complete-game performance giving up only four singles while striking out a career-best 12. Despite picking up the loss, Thomas (1-2) was equally effective throwing 7.2 innings allowing three runs on six hits.
After seven scoreless innings, NIU broke through for the game's first runs in the eighth off Thomas. NIU's Derek Barrone led off the inning with a double and scored the game-winning run on a double by Noel Danielson. The other two runs in the inning came across on Pat Kerrigan's team-leading ninth home run of the season.
NIU plated an insurance run in the ninth to make the final, 4-0.
The two teams will wrap up their four-game series on Sunday, May 5 with a single game beginning at 2:00 p.m.
