Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Northern Illinois
Baseball Drops Opener at Northern Illinois, 5-4
4/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 21, 2006
DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois University led 5-1 after four innings, then let Central Michigan University load the bases with nobody out in the ninth before escaping with a 5-4 Mid-American Conference baseball win on Friday.
NIU (18-19 overall, 7-6 MAC) put four runs on the board in the bottom of the first and used a Bobby Stevens RBI double in the fourth to stretch its lead to 5-1. The Chippewas (23-16, 9-4) scored single runs in the sixth and seventh, then seemed poised to complete their rally in the ninth.
Eric Cannon was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth and Cody Allen followed by drawing a walk. Brian Campbell then laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt, but reached first to load the bases with nobody out. Following a Scott Szpyrka strikeout, J.T. Jones walked to force in Cannon. The rally was quickly silenced, however, as Troy Moratti's grounder turned into a 6-3, game-ending double play.
Both CMU starter Ty Dunham and designated hitter Bryan Mitzel reached career milestones in the first inning. Mitzel doubled for the 46th time in his career in his first at-bat, tying Doug Fisher and Mike Gates for first on the school's career doubles list. Following Mitzel's double, a throwing error allowed Moratti to score the game's first run and give CMU an early 1-0 lead.
Dunham, who would surrender four runs in the first frame, became CMU's all-time leader in innings pitched when Jeff Thomas was thrown out attempting to steal second base for the second out of the inning. Dunham, who would hold NIU to one run on five hits over his final 6-1/3 innings, has now worked 318-1/3 innings in a Chippewa uniform.
After taking the early 4-1 lead, NIU pushed across its final run in the fourth via a Stevens double that brought in Matt Behren. An error allowed Moratti to score the Chippewas' second run in the sixth inning, and Allen came home on a wild pitch in the seventh to cut the CMU deficit to 5-3.
Both teams went quietly in the eighth inning before CMU put together its final comeback attempt in the ninth.
Dunham fell to 5-3 with the loss, while NIU starter Nick Hall worked 6-1/3 innings to improve to 4-4. Huskie relievers Mark Badgley and Matt German combined to hold CMU hitless over the final 2-2/3 innings; despite allowing a run in the ninth, German tallied his eighth save of the year.
Bryan Resnick was 2-for-3 on a day that saw CMU collect a season-low five hits. Jesse Seykora and Brian Smith had two hits apiece for NIU.
The teams get back together for game two of the three-game series on Saturday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
