Bien's Three Hits Not Enough As NIU Blanks Falcons In Series Opener

Friday, March 28

Westfield, Ind.

6:05 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

6-16, 0-4

Northern Illinois University

4-17-1, 2-2

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

Bien's Three Hits Not Enough As NIU Blanks Falcons In Series Opener

March 28, 2014 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: HTML

WESTFIELD, Ind.—The Bowling Green State University baseball team was blanked by Northern Illinois on Friday night, falling to the Huskies by a final of 9-0. NIU did all of their scoring in three innings, as they scored two in the first, three in the third, and four in the ninth. The game was played at Westfield Grand Park. With the win, Northern Illinois improves to 4-17-1 on the season and 2-2 in Mid-American Conference play. The Falcons fall to 6-16 on the year and 0-4 in MAC play.

The story of the game was free bases given by Falcon pitchers, and runners left on base by Falcon hitters. Northern Illinois outhit Bowling Green just 8-to-6 in the ballgame, but the Falcons left 11 runners on base. Despite recording just eight hits, NIU was helped by seven walks and two hit batters.

The Huskies scored two in the first inning and three in the third inning to knock Falcon starting pitcher Cody Apthorpe out of the game after just 2.2 innings. He allowed four earned runs on five hits and two walks.

Apthorpe was countered by an NIU pitching staff that was able to minimize the damage of the Bowling Green offense all game long. Starting pitcher Anthony Andres, who improved to 2-3 with the win, went 6.0 innings while allowing five hits and four walks. He would not allow a runner to cross home, however, in the combined-shutout effort.

Devin Daugherty would do a nice job in relief of Apthorpe, pitching a career high 5.2 innings. He would keep NIU off the scoreboard over the first 5.1 innings that he pitched, before exiting the game after a sacrifice fly which increased the Huskies' lead to 6-0.

Brian Bien continued to swing a hot bat for the Orange and Brown in the game, as he had three of the team's six hits in the contest. The junior shortstop was 3-for-4 with several nice defensive plays, as well.

The Falcons and Huskies will continue their three game series at Grand Park tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Mike Frank will oppose Eli Anderson on the mound, as the Orange and Brown look to end a five-game skid.