Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami Suffers Setback in Series Opener at NIU
4/20/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
DeKALB, ILL. - The Miami baseball team suffered a setback Friday as it fell to Northern Illinois, 5-2, in the series opener. The Red & White drop to 22-12 (8-5 MAC) on the year while the Huskies improve to 12-24 (4-9 MAC).
Neither team would score over the first three frames but both pushed across runs in the fourth. In the top half of the inning, Ross Haffey started things off by reaching on an error and moved to second on a groundout. Hayden Senger then reached on a two-base throwing error that allowed Haffey to score from second. After the second out of the inning, Mackay Williams drove in Senger with a single to left, making the score 2-0 in favor of the RedHawks. The Huskies answered by taking the lead thanks to a four-run bottom of the fourth. NIU plated its first two runs on back-to-back hit batters with the bases loaded before a two-out, two-run double gave it the lead at 4-2 though four.
The Huskies widened their lead to 5-2 in the home half of the fifth courtesy of a leadoff solo blast.
Miami starting pitcher Spencer Mraz went 3.2 inning and surrendered four runs on five hits while striking out five. Shane Smith tossed the final 4.1 innings and allowed just one run on three hits.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. ET as the RedHawks look to even the series and force a Sunday rubber match.
