Bowling Green Opens Weekend Series At NIU With Loss On Friday

Friday, March 31

DeKalb, IL

4:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-17, 0

Northern Illinois

8-17, 0

Bowling Green

Northern Illinois

March 31, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: PDF | HTML

DEKALB, Ill. – The Bowling Green State University baseball team opened up a three-game series at Northern Illinois University with an 11-0 loss at Ralph McKinzie Field. The Huskies scored two runs in the first inning, and pounded out 14 hits to take the series opener in DeKalb, Illinois. The game was played in front of 150 fans.

Bowling Green drops to 5-17 and 1-3 in Mid-American Conference play with the defeat. Northern Illinois is now 4-0 in conference play, and 8-17 overall with the victory. The game was the Huskies' home opener.

"I thought that we showed up to the field not prepared. For whatever reason, we were not ready to play," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "That showed in the first inning, and we ending up handing them three runs to start the game. You can't ever do that, but with the way that our offense is going, we especially can't do that.

"Everything gets magnified when you aren't scoring runs. We still have a chance to do what we want to do this weekend, but we are going to have to show up to the field tomorrow locked in, and prepared."

Northern Illinois broke the game open with a six-run sixth inning. The Huskies' sixth inning pushed its advantage to 10-0. NIU scored one more in the eighth to conclude the game's scoring.

The Huskies played from in front the entire game, as the home team scored two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. With one out, an error allowed NIU to score first, and then with two outs and a runner in scoring position, Northern Illinois took a 2-0 lead with a single into left field.

The Huskies plated single runs in the fourth and fifth. They committed zero errors, while Bowling Green committed four errors. Cam Daugherty went 2-for-4 at the plate, while Greg Basalyga and Nick Piazza registered one hit apiece. The hit for Piazza was the first of his collegiate career.

Tyler Anderson got the start for Bowling Green and allowed six runs (five earned) over 5.0 innings. He yielded seven hits, while striking out three and walking two. Addison Rospert was very strong in relief, as he logged 1.1 innings of scoreless ball. He allowed just one hit, and registered one strikeout.

Bowling Green and Northern Illinois will conclude the three-game series tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader. The first game is scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. ET, with the second game beginning approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.