University of Toledo
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Toledo Drops Series Opener at Northern Illinois, 7-6
5/21/2004 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
May 21, 2004
DeKalb, IL - Toledo (20-33, 8-14 MAC) dropped a 7-6 decision this afternoon at Northern Illinois (28-26, 12-10 MAC) in the first game of the teams' three-game set at Ralph McKinzie Field.
With the victory, NIU moved one game closer to a berth in the 2004 MAC Tournament, placing themselves one-half game ahead of Bowling Green for the sixth and final spot in the league summit. BGSU and Western Michigan got rained out this afternoon and will play a 12:00 (EDT) doubleheader Saturday (May 22).
Toledo stormed out of the gate early, scoring the game's first run after RF Jarrod Resendez drew a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning. Resendez stole second and scored when CF Sean Dobson looped a single down the right-field line. UT actually got the next two runners on base as well to load the bases with one out, but NIU starter Joe Piekarz got himself out of the jam by inducing a popout and collecting his second strikeout of the contest to escape the frame after allowing just the one run.
Resendez tacked another run on the board in the second inning with a two-out homer to right field to give Toledo a 2-0 lead.
The Huskies got that run back, however, in the bottom of the frame thanks mainly to a trio of UT fielding miscues. Mike Hochhauser started the inning off with a single, and advanced to third when 2B Matt Ruth couldn't handle Anthony Venetucci's groundball. 3B Dan Stong then booted a Josh Owens' grounder and also threw the ball into right field, allowing Hochhauser to score and make it a 2-1 ballgame.
NIU finally broke out in the bottom of the fifth when after tallying just one hit thought the first four frames, a leadoff double by Eric Sansouci kick-started a three-run Huskie rally. Greg Larsen plated Sansouci with a two-out single and Rob Marconi followed with a two-run home run deep to left field that gave the hosts their first lead of the day at 4-2.
C Dan Ruth knotted the game back up at 4-4 with a two-run single in the top of the seventh before Larsen came up big again in the bottom of the stanza. Jeremy Busch tripled into the right-centerfield gap with one out, and Larsen ripped another single right back up the middle to give NIU the lead back at 5-4. After an intentional walk to Marconi, Hochhauser cashed in with a two-out, two-run double off the base of the fence in left field to put the Huskies up by three.
Trouble reared its head again in the top of the eighth, as a leadoff walk forced Piekarz from the game. Reliever Josh Goodwin hit the first batter he faced and gave up a bunt single to Resendez to load the bases with no outs. The Huskies looked to be on their way to escaping the jam after a popout and a routine groundball to short, but an inning-ending double play evaporated when Owens skipped his throw past Hochhauser at first base on the turn. Two runs scored and the NIU lead was back down to one at 7-6.
Senior Trevor Wohlgemuth came on to close out the eighth however, and was just as effective in the ninth, allowing just a leadoff walk in closing out the game to earn his seventh save of the season. Piekarz walked away with the victory after giving up five runs over seven innings of work.
Junior J.R. Duffey took the loss for the Rockets.
The two teams will continue their three-game series tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. EDT Northern Illinois returns to action Saturday (May 22) when the Huskies take on Toledo in game two of the teams' weekend series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (CDT).
