University of Toledo
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Toledo Comes From Behind to Defeat Northern Illinois in Series Opener, 6-4
5/17/2007 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
Final Stats
TOLEDO, OH - Toledo scored six unanswered runs and claimed a 6-4 victory over Northern Illinois in Thursday's Mid-American Conference series opener at brisk Scott Park. With the combination of today's come-from-behind victory over the Huskies and a Buffalo loss at Kent State, the Rockets (25-25, 13-12 MAC) have clinched a spot in next week's MAC Tournament, which is slated to start on Wednesday, May 23.
The Rockets received an outstanding start from sophomore Mike Inselmann, who threw the first seven innings and allowed four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts to earn the victory. Inselmann, who has worked seven-plus innings in five of his 12 starts this season, won for the first time since April 14 vs. Bowling Green, a span of five appearances.
Sophomore Jeff Cinadr came on in relief and tossed the final two scoreless innings to register his second save of the season.
Offensively, junior Drew Hoisington and sophomore Josh Colliver led the Rockets' offense with three hits each.
The Huskies (31-21, 15-10 MAC) looked good early and opened the scoring in the second on a RBI single off the bat of Matt Behren. NIU took advantage of two hits and a hit by pitch in the inning to establish the early lead.
An inning later, NIU added to its lead with a three-run home run down the leftfield line by Danny Reed. The visitors collected three-straight hits off Inselmann after the first two outs were recorded to make the score 4-0.
Toledo started it comeback with a single run in the bottom of the third on a run-scoring single up the middle by junior Jake Swint. Leadoff hitter Hoisington started the rally with a double and came around to score his team-best 53rd run of the season on Swint's eighth RBI in the last four games.
The home team continued to fight back in the fourth and a RBI single by Dudley made it a two-run contest, 4-2. The first three batters tallied hits in the frame, including a leadoff double by sophomore Jake Oester.
UT's comeback was complete in the sixth when the Midnight Blue and Gold registered four runs to take their first and only lead of the contest. Toledo sent nine batters to the plate and took advantage of three costly NIU errors to take a lead it would not surrender and send the Huskies' starter Trevor Feeny (6-6) to the showers. The big hit in the frame was a two-run single by Hoisington.
NIU threatened in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but UT's Cinadr forced a fly-ball out to seal the first-game victory.
The two teams will continue their three-game series tomorrow with a 3:00 first pitch.
