• Roster
• ▪
• Schedule / Results
• ▪
• News
• ▪
• Archives

March 18, 2006

Box Score

Sarasota, Fla. - Six runs over the first two innings were not enough for the University of Northern Iowa baseball team in a Saturday afternoon contest with Illinois at Ed Smith Stadium, as the Panthers fell to the Fighting Illini, 13-8.

Curt Bradley put the Panthers on the board in the first inning with a double that drove in Nate Trumm, and, after the Illini put a run on the board in the top of the second, Deric Manrique added another marker for UNI in the bottom half with an RBI single that brought Brett Douglas home. The Panthers then jumped out to a 6-1 lead when cleanup hitter Brett Featherston clubbed a two-out grand slam over the wall in right field to plate Deric Manrique, Brandon Douglas and Nate Trumm.  The blast was Featherston's fourth home run of the season and was the first grand slam by a UNI player since Pat Moran went deep against Upper Iowa on March 30, 2005.

Four Panther errors in the top of the third contributed to three runs by the Illini, to pare UNI's lead to 6-4.  Featherston struck again in the bottom of the frame, however, stroking a single up the middle to bring in Brandon Douglas, who had tripled, and give the Panthers a 7-5 edge.

The Illini battled back in the fifth, with Hudson delivering a clutch, two-out single to plate Hastings and Altobelli and give Illinois an 8-7 lead.  Illinois added another pair in the top of the sixth to extend that margin to 10-7, and three more runs in the eighth put things out of reach.  Featherston plated Brandon Douglas with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, but that was all the offense the Panthers could muster.

Featherston finished the game 2-for-4 with six RBI, while Brandon Douglas went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Brett Douglas was 3-of-5 at the plate.  Starter Taylor Sinclair (1-3) took the pitching loss for the UNI, which fell to 10-9 on the season.

The Panthers, who finished 3-7 on their spring break trip, now return to Cedar Falls and will host Clarke College in their home opener Wednesday at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo.

Notes:

 - After struggling through the early part of UNI's spring break trip, Featherston found his stroke and now leads the Panthers in slugging percentage (.778), home runs (4), doubles (8), walks (14) and RBI (24).  The sophomore also holds a .407 average, second best on the team.

- Freshman Brandon Douglas hit .500 over the Panthers' 10 games in Florida, while Curt Bradley posted a .429 average.  Douglas, who has started all 18 of the Panthers' games, leads the team with a .423 average and has driven in 13 runs.  Bradley's performance, which included three doubles and a pair of triples, raised his season average to .396.