In this past weekend's games nothing went the Huskies way, especially on the defensive end.  It certainly didn't start off well either:

We arrived at the hotel pretty late and to top it off, none of our keys worked. So there were quite a few tired and irritated guys here. We have a 4pm game tomorrow so we have some free time to either sleep, hang out or maybe get some homework done during the day.

Game 4: Northern Illinois 4, Austin Peay 7 (Box)

-------------------------------------------
Northern Illinois... 100 000 012 -  4  9  4
Austin Peay......... 421 000 00X -  7  6  3
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"Unlucky Lefty" Chuck Lukanen (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO) recovered from a shaky 1st inning in which he gave up all three of his earned runs and went on to give a solid performance.  The problem is that the defense committed 4 (FOUR) errors behind Chuck.  Two by 1B Dave Reynolds in the first couple innings gave 3 runs to the opposition and SS Alex Jones gave up one in the 2nd.  3B Troy White committed an error in the 5th, but after the bases got loaded up, Chuck retired the final 3 batters of the inning.

If those early innings don't happen, the Huskies win this game.  RF Jordin Hood (3-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) hit his a 2-run home run in the 9th to put the Huskies somewhat in this one.  DH Joe Etcheverry (1-3, 2B, 2 BB, 1 SO) had a nice game getting on base while getting that XBH.  Reynolds (3-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB) played pretty well, but didn't come close to making up for the errors.  NIU's LOB was 12 compared to Peay's 7.

Kyle Glancy made his debut this year in the bullpen and Tom Barry bounced back from getting destroyed by ASU to finish the game.  Neither surrendered a run.

Game 5: Northern Illinois 3, Austin Peay 4 (Box)

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Northern Illinois... 000 001 002 -  3  4  3
Austin Peay......... 002 110 00X -  4  5  1
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Zach Oates (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) pitched the game of his life, entrenching him in one of the top starting spots on this squad. But the Huskies still couldn't win because of a lack of defense again.  Jayme Wells made his first start at 2B and made two critical errors giving up 2 runs in the 3rd and the 5th innings.  Cory Krupp made his first start in LF and also dropped a crucial ball in the 3rd inning as well.  Tom Zelasko pitched one scoreless inning to end it.

The leadoff man Krupp (0-2, 3 BB, 1 RBI, 1 SB) was our best threat getting on base even though he didn't get a hit.  Jordin Hood (1-4, 1 RBI, 1 R, 2 SO) racked  up some pretty decent stats.  We had a high LOB again with 10 compared to Peay's 3.  The Huskies also struck out 15 times compared to only 6 K's dealt to Peay.

Game 6: Northern Illinois 8, Austin Peay 9 (Box)

----------------------------------------------
Northern Illinois... 000 040 013 00 -  8 10  7
Austin Peay......... 102 010 220 01 -  9  8  1
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In keeping with the theme of the weekend, 1B Dave Reynolds, 3B Troy White, RF Jake Hermsen (twice), C Brett Frantini and SS Alex Jones (twice) all had errors in this game!  That's 6 runs given up on 7 errors!!!!

Jeremy Gonzales (5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO) had a solid start, despite struggling with finding the strike zone.  Glancy (1.1 IP), Zelasko (0.2 IP), Andy Dean (0.2 IP) and Barry (3.0 IP) all didn't give up a single earned run in relief.

The offense finally started to get going spearheaded by Joe Etcheverry (3-4, HR, 4 RBI, 1 R, 2 BB) and his 3-run home run in the 9th inning to tie the game at 8 a-piece.  Troy White (1-5, 1 RBI, 2 R, HBP)  is finally starting to get hot these past couple games and I believe that he can be the catalyst for the offense.

What to take from the weekend:

Our pitching is good, very good.  Except our defense is bad, very bad.  The errors will begin to disappear as the Huskies experience more games on the diamond.  It also seems like the offense came around against a MAC-calibur team like Austin Peay.  I'd be a lot more worried if our pitchers were getting shelled, but defense we can fix as the conference nears.

Up next the Huskies are goin' back to Cali:

The Huskies will get back to action next weekend as they head to California for their nine-game spring break trip starting with a noon CDT contest against Cal State Bakersfield on Friday, March 5th. NIU will also face Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara during the break.

Well with today's game rained out, let's take a look at how the NIU baseball fared against the #5 team in the nation this weekend:

Game 1: Northern Illinois 0, Arizona State 8 (Box)

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Northern Illinois... 000 000 000 -  0  4  0
Arizona State....... 014 200 10X -  8  9  0
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Starting pitcher LHP Chuck Lukanen had a rough go, giving up 7 hits and 7 ER in 5.2 innings.  He fought hard out there, but walked 8 batters, while only striking out 4.  These stats really aren't bad at all against the #5 team in the nation.  The 4th inning was brutal giving up 4 runs, but should 3 of them have counted?

ASU was on the verge of only getting one run in the inning, but junior left fielder Matt Newman came through in the clutch. Newman crushed a ball down the leftfield line that the only question about it was whether it was fair or foul.

First base umpire Steve Mattingly ruled the ball fair and it was a three-run home run for Newman that caused the ejection of NIU assistant coach Steve Joslyn.

It really wouldn't have mattered, because the offense just wasn't there for the Huskies all day.  1B Dave Reynolds was 2 for 4 with no strikeouts.  Not a single Huskie got an extra hit.  Which makes sense considering that ASU's pitcher might be picked in the 1st round of the MLB draft.

RHP Jeremy Gonzales made his debut in the bullpen to get the last out in the 6th, while LHP Tom Barry finished the game.

Continue reading this post »

The schedule for this weekend and projected pitching matchups:

Friday, February 19- 7:30 p.m.

G1: LHP Chuck Lukanen (2009: 7-6 | 5.65 ERA) vs. RHP Seth Blair (2009: 7-2 | 3.39 ERA)

Saturday, February 20- 2 p.m. (Game One)

G2: LHP Jake Hermsen (2009: 1-1 | 10.06 ERA) vs. RHP Merrill Kelly (Freshman)

Saturday, February 20- Game Two (45 min. after Game One)

G3: RHP Brian Smith (2009: Did Not Pitch) vs. To Be Announced

Radio: The Fan 1060

Gametracker: NIUHuskies.com & TheSunDevils.com

GO HUSKIES!!!

The pitching staff really got behind the 8-ball last year after Brandon Copp disappeared and Andy Deain broke his finger on a fluke line drive hit.  It really put a hamper on the season, but the good thing about that happening is that a lot of young talent got plenty of experience on the mound.  While it wasn't pretty, it should pay off in the long run throughout this year.

Continue reading this post »

I'm really excited that Northern Illinois baseball is starting back up again starting this weekend with a 4-game series against the #5 Arizona State Sun Devils.  That will start off a brutal 19-game road trip while Dekalb tries to thaw out of the snow.  Last season was a bit of a letdown because of all the injuries primarily to the pitching staff. 

The preseason polls put the Huskies as the 5th best team in the MAC West, but this team has a ton of potential to beat that prediction.  First we'll take a look at the offense, which needs to replace some serious holes in the outfield to be successful.  However with the infield remaining intact, there should be a distinct increase on the defensive end of things.

Continue reading this post »

Northern Illinois fails to get by Zips, losing streak extends to 7 games

Game 1: NIU 10, Akron 14

Huskie Offense:

1B Dave Reynolds went 2 for 3 with a HR, 3 RBIs, 2 R, and a SF.  LF Jordin Hood joined in with a HR of his own and went 2 for 5 with an RBI and 2 R.

RF Justin Behm went 3 for 4 with 2 runs and DH Joe Etcheverry went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, a R and a BB.

Huskie Pitching:

LHP Chuck Lukanen has been struggling as the ace of this squad by default, giving up 8 ER in only 1.2 IP while walking 3 and striking out 2.  His record falls to 3-5 for the season.

RHP Nick Badgley picked up right where Lukanen left off giving up 6 ER in 1.1 IP with 1 K and 1 BB.

Freshman RHP Chris Wakefield had an excellent outing in relief, giving up only 3 hits and zero runs in the last 5 innings with 2 Ks, but that performance was too little too late for the Huskies.

MatheySpeak:

"Our pitchers were falling behind everyone and if they didn't walk them, they got hits," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "They were hitting the ball well in those two innings."

"You're feeling pretty good, scoring a run in the first and a few more in the second while doing some goods things on the field," Mathey said. "Then the momentum shifted in the bottom of the second and pretty soon they were off to the races. It was unfortunate because they scored all their runs in those two innings and we scored 10 runs, but lost."

Game 2: NIU 11, Akron 14

Huskie Offense:

RF Justin Behm went 3 for 3 with a HR, a double, 4 RBI and a R while walking twice.

P/DH Dave Reynolds went 2 for 5 with a HR, a double, 3 RBIs, a R and a SO

CF Jordin Hood went 2 for 5 with a double, 2 RBI, 2 R and no strikeouts.

Huskie Pitching:

Despite performing well on offense, LHP Dave Reynolds couldn't put it togetther giving up 11 ER off 12 hits with a BB and a K in 4 IP.

RHP Zach Oates came in and extended his relief to the 8th inning when both squads were tied 11-11, but subsequently gave up a 2-run HR.  NIU couldn't recover as Oates took the loss and is now 0-3 on the season.

MatheySpeak:

"Offensively, I though we came out with a good approach and got ourselves in position to win the game," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "Our offense did a good job with that.

"However, two five-run innings are tough to overcome in any baseball game and proved to be the fact today. We had three non-plays in that first one that didn't help out Dave Reynolds at all on the mound. We got back in to it though. Their fifth inning started out with our only walk of the day, but again we came back and got ourselves tied. We just couldn't get out of that eighth inning."

Game 3: NIU 9, Akron 10

Huskie Offense:

1B Dave Reynolds went 3 for 5 with 5 RBIs, a R and a SB.  CF Pat Minogue went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI.

2B Joe Buonvolanto and RF Jordin Hood both got hit by pitches twice and scored 2 runs each.

Huskie Pitching/D:

Freshman RHP Kyle Glancy went only 2.2 innings, giving up 9 ER with 4 BB and 7 hits.  He picked up his first loss of the season.

LHP Tom Zelasko was stellar in relief going 5.1 innings giving up 2 walks and 3 Ks.

The only run given up in the latter innings was because of a fielding error by 2B Joe Buonavolanto.

MatheySpeak:

"We gave away too many free passes and fell behind too many hitters," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "We came out and scored seven in the first two innings and then all of a sudden we're behind. We can't give away that many free passes to a team like this. It's pretty disappointing."

UP NEXT:

A 5-game home stand including Illinois State on Tues, Chicago State on Wed and then a weekend series against the Toledo Rockets.

Game 1: Northern Illinois 3 (11-15, 4-2), Kent State 9 (19-6, 5-1)

Lefty pitcher Chuck Lukanen didn't have his A game as he went 5 innings and gave up 11 H, 6 ER with 3 BB and 3 K's.

The 4th inning was brutal for our defense.  Both RF Jordin hood and SS Alex Jones both had throwing errors which ended up in 2 runs being unearned.  2B Joe Buonavolanto also had 2 throwing errors, but got lucky as neither of those runners came across the plate.

Matheyspeak:

"You can't give a good team four extra outs on the defensive side and walk guys the way we did," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey on his team's four errors and four walks. "Chuck Lukanen didn't pitch as well as he had been, and it was cold and rainy, but they are a good baseball team. I give them credit. They played good baseball today."

C Matt Behren contributed with a 3-run HR, which ended up being the only 3 runs that we scored in this game.

OF Jordin Hood went 2 for 3 with a R, a HBP and a CS.

Strikeouts were a huge problem for the Huskies in this one.  NIU struck out 14 times compared to only 4 times on the KSU side.

Game 2: Northern Illinois 9 (11-16, 4-3), Kent State 20 (20-6, 6-1)

RHP Nick Badgley couldn't get out of the first inning, giving up 7 ER to start out the game.  He got hit hard as gave up 9 hits while only walking 1 with 2 SO.

Badge's replacement RHP Sam Kapacinskas subsequently gave up 6 ER in the 5th inning.

Matheyspeak:

"They are a good hitting team, the wind was blowing out, and Nick Badgley wasn't sharp," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "That's not a good combination. Seven runs in the first is tough to come back from. We overcame that inning, but couldn't overcome the eight-run fifth. Nick had only one walk, but they were hitting him pretty well."

The Huskies gave up 10 XBHs in this game including 3 Golden Flash HRs.

3B Troy White continues to struggle defensively with a fielding error that allowed a run in the 3rd.  2B Alex Beckmann had 2 fielding errors, including one that let a runner cross the plate in the 5th inning.

The offense put some runs on the board, but it was too little too late for the Huskies in this game.

C Matt Behren continued to stay hot hitting a 3-run HR in his 2nd straight game.  LF Jordin Hood joined in the action hitting a 2-run HR, with a HBP, a walk and 2 runs scored.

RF Nick Morreale filled in nicely out of the dugout going 2 for 3 with a 2B, 3 RBIs, a R and a SO.

Game 3: Northern Illinois 9 (11-17, 4-4), Kent State 13 (21-6, 7-1)

LHP Dave Reynolds had a respectable game going 4 IP, giving up 8 H, 4 ER with 3 K's and only 1 BB.  Kyle Glancy and Tom Zelasko were good in relief giving up 2 ER between them.

However in the bottom of the 9th inning, RHP Zach Oates came in to a game tied 9-9 and this happened:

Kent State 9th - KLAFCZYNSKI reached on a fielding error by 2b. OATES to
p for ZELASKO. HUMPHREYS singled up the middle; KLAFCZYNSKI advanced to third.
PATTON intentionally walked; HUMPHREYS advanced to second. SHAW pinch hit for
HINDEL. SHAW homered to left field, 4 RBI; PATTON scored; HUMPHREYS scored;
KLAFCZYNSKI scored, unearned. 4 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.

At least we were in position to win this game, but we just couldn't close it out against a great offensive team.  The main problem in this game was the 4 errors, which led to 4 unearned runs.

Matheyspeak:

"Our guys came out and hit the ball hard today," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "I was proud of that, but we didn't get it done as far as winning. The story of today's game is that we gave away too many runs defensively. Both teams came out and played hard. Both teams swung the bats well. We had two teams battling as they were trying to get the sweep and we were trying to prevent it. It was an exciting game that wasn't very clean at times, but when you have the last at-bat, you have an advantage in this type of game with all the lead changes."

2B Joe Buonavolanto had 2 fielding errors, which is somewhat becoming a trend.  Both 1B Justin Behm and RF Nick Badgley both had throwing errors, which cost us 2 extra unearned runs as well.

LF/3B Jordin Hood continues to rake as he was 2 for 4 with a 2B, a HR, 2 RBIs, 2 R and a HBP.

SS Alex Jones did a nice job leading off going 2 for 4 with a 2B, an RBI and a R.  He also had zero errors and strikeouts.

Next up for the Huskies: @ ISU on Tues, @ Northwestern on Wed

MAC Baseball has been in full-swing for a while now but like most fans we want to know who the best teams are and how our Huskies fare in respect to the rest of our conference mates.  Below are the essential numbers stacking up the MAC.  Just like in college basketball, the college baseball RPI plays an important role in the postseason selection of teams.  Approximately once every week i will release an update so fans can continue to monitor NIU and MAC baseball.

2009 MAC Baseball Standings (As of Thursday, April 2)

via i305.photobucket.com

2009 MAC Baseball RPI's (As of Thursday, April 2)

1. Kent State - #108; down from #64
2. Miami - #158; down from #145
3. Northern Illinois - #166; down from #152
4. Bowling Green - #186; up from #217
5. Toledo - #197; down from #166
6. Ball State - #232; up from #241
7. Central Michigan - #247; down from #240
8. Ohio - #250; up from #272
9. Akron - #254; up from #267
10. Western Michigan - #260; down from #221
11. Eastern Michigan - #263; down from #259
12. Buffalo - #268; up from #278


2009 MAC Baseball SOS's (As of Thursday, April 2)

1. Akron - #148  // Oppositions Win % - .5008
2. Eastern Michigan - #149  // Oppositions Win % - .4997
3. Northern Illinois - #152  // Oppositions Win % - .4977
4. Miami - #178  // Oppositions Win % - .4828
5. Bowling Green - #179  // Oppositions Win % - .4826
6. Toledo - #200  // Oppositions Win % - .4744
7. Western Michigan - #206  // Oppositions Win % - .4704
8. Kent State - #227  // Oppositions Win % - .4565
9. Central Michigan - #267  // Oppositions Win % - .4324
10. Ball State - #273  // Oppositions Win % - .4302
11. Buffalo - #279  // Oppositions Win % - .4211
12. Ohio - #291  // Oppositions Win % - .4113

Source: http://www.warrennolan.com/baseball/2009/index