April 21, 2007
Box Score
PANTHERS BEAT BISON WITH BATS, ARMS
WATERLOO, Iowa. - A stellar outing from starter Nick Kirk and a big game from the Panther bats powered the University of Northern Iowa baseball team to a 10-1 victory over North Dakota State. The bats scored 10 runs on 14 hits and Kirk tossed a complete game in the win.
Kirk (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) mowed down the NDSU lineup through nine strong innings of work. The sophomore sat down 10 batters on strikes and allowed just one runs on 10 hits to take home a victory. Kirk improves to 3-1 with the win.
Brandon Douglas (St. Charles, Iowa/I-35) roped an opposite-field RBI single down the right field line to score Eric Hoffmann (Erskine, Minn./Win-E-Mac) and put the Panthers on the board in the first inning. Dane Embury (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna) crushed a line drive to centerfield to score Brett Featherston (Epworth, Iowa/Western Dubuque) from second base and give UNI a 2-0 lead through one.
Three straight hits from Jordan Kraayenbrink (Decorah, Iowa/Decorah), Eddie Almonte (Santo Domingo, DR) and Boone Bugger (Bozemon, Mont./Bozemon) packed the bases for leadoff man Deric Manrique (Sioux City, Iowa/North) in the second inning. Manrique ripped a liner into left centerfield, scoring Kraayenbrink and Almonte and doubling the Panther advantage to four runs. Hoffmann slapped his second straight hit off the left field wall to reload the bases for Douglas. Douglas followed with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Bugger and putting the Panthers up 5-0 through two.
The Panthers tallied a sixth run in the third inning when Travis Henrix (Sonora, Calif./Sonora) drove in Embury with an RBI groundout to second base. The run gave UNI a 6-0 advantage after three.
Douglas came through again with a sixth-inning double to the left-centerfield gap that scored Manrique and gave the Panthers a seven-run advantage. Featherston lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Hoffmann and Embury followed with an RBI groundout to shortstop to score Douglas. A three-run sixth gave UNI a 9-0 lead
The first pitch from NDSU reliever Jeff Kyllo's hand was kindly smashed over the left-centerfield wall by Hendrix for a 10-run Panther lead in the seventh. The home run was Hendrix's first as a Panther. UNI loaded the bases but left them loaded to end the seventh inning with a 10-0 lead.
The Bison finally cracked Kirk in the top of the eighth, plating a run and cutting the Panther lead to 10-1. Kirk pitched himself out of the eighth and faced the minimum in the ninth to preserve the 10-1 win.
Offensively, Embury led the offense with a 3-5, two RBI showing. Douglas finished 2-3 with three batted in, while both Hendrix and Manrique went 2-5 with a pair of RBI and a run scored.
The Panthers improve to 16-19 overall. NDSU falls to 7-21 on the season.
UNI and NDSU meet for game three tomorrow at 1:00.
