Brett Frantini
Northern Illinois out-hit Saint Louis, 10-9, at Busch Sports Center Wednesday afternoon but the Huskies were unable to hit with runners on base and fell, 4-1. Eight different Huskies tallied hits against the Billikens.
“It was very similar to yesterday’s game, starting pitching did well for us, we got hits but we couldn’t get them in situational at-bats,” said associate head coach Steve Joslyn. “Eli did well in his first career start for us. We’ll look to battle back on Friday at SIU.”
Sophomore Eli Anderson (Glenview, Ill./New Trier) made his first career start for the Huskies against the Billikens and totaled 4.1 innings for the Huskies on the mound, giving up five hits and a mere walk, while also striking out three. It was his first loss of the season.
The NIU batters gave Anderson the lead in the top of the third inning, when senior Alex Beckmann (Batavia, Ill.) led off with a triple and junior Jordan Huffman (Sergaent Bluff, Iowa) singled to drive home the left fielder. Northern Illinois would strand Alex Jones (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) and sophomore Jeff Zimmerman (Tinley Park, Ill./Victor J Andrew).
The Huskies left three runners on base in the eighth and had a runner on-base in all innings but the sixth. NIU also registered a hit in every tilt, except for the sixth.
SLU scored two runs in the fifth and seventh innings to increase its lead, 4-1.
Senior Brett Frantini (Minooka, Ill.) threw out two runners attempting steal base, doing so in the second Billikens at-bat and again in the sixth inning. He has caught seven runners stealing base this year.
Northern Illinois (2-14) plays its first games in the state of Illinois this weekend, heading to Carbondale and taking on Southern Illinois and Illinois. The Huskies first game will be Friday at 11 a.m. versus the Salukis.
For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
