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April 30, 2006

Box Score

Cedar Falls, Iowa -

Rain, hits and runs came in spurts in the University of Northern Iowa baseball team's 8-6 victory over Southern Illinois. Brett and Brandon Douglas homered and added a pair of spectacular defensive plays in the win.  The rubber game victory gave the Panthers their first series win over the Salukis during head coach Rick Heller's tenure.

The Salukis took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first, but UNI tied the contest in the bottom of the first when Brandon Douglas (St. Charles, Iowa/I-35 Truro) slammed Saluki pitcher Matt Brewer's 1-0 offering over the left field wall for his fourth homer of the year.

SIU loaded the bases in the third and fourth innings and pushed a run across in the fourth to put the score at 2-1. Curt Bradley (Colombia, MO/Rock Bridge) scored on a pass ball after doubling and stealing third base. Bradley's run tied the game at two.

With runners on first and second in the fifth, SIU catcher Hunter Harrigan sliced a line drive into Brett Douglas' right field neighborhood. Douglas (St. Charles, Iowa/I-35 Truro) fielded the ball on the roll and threw a frozen rope from shallow right to catcher Nate Trumm's mitt in time to tag out Dean Cademartori and keep the game tied.

The tie would last only for an inning, as the Salukis tagged Panther relievers Tim Smid (Remsen, Iowa/St. Mary's) and Mark Bennett (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy) for four runs in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead. Four walks, a double and a Bret Maugeri home run were the chief culprits in the four-run inning.

The Panthers roared back into the game in the sixth and seventh innings with Brett Douglas leading the charge. The sophomore slammed his first career home run over the left field wall in the sixth to plate UNI's third run and was instrumental in the Panthers' three-run, game-tying seventh frame. After a Brandon Douglas sac fly pushed across the first run of the inning, Brett Douglas drove in Jesse Oster (Redding, Calif./Foothill) to bring the Panthers within one with runners at the corners. Douglas then baited a throw from the SIU pitcher and fell into a pickle, allowing Brett Featherston (Epworth, Iowa/Western Dubuque) to steal home and tie the game.

Panther pitching walked the bases loaded in the eighth after recording two outs, but redshirt freshman Zach Zirbel (Clear Lake, Iowa/Clear Lake) escaped the inning unscathed after throwing a devastating 3-2 curveball to strike out Hunter Harrigan and preserve the tie. Senior Mark Frieske (Spokane, Wash/Porterville CC) scored and drove in a run in the eighth to give the Panthers a two-run advantage entering the ninth.

Oster pitched the ninth and earned the save with help from a Brandon Douglas diving catch and a three-pitch strikeout of heavy-hitting Grant Gerrard. The save was Oster's first of the season.

Zirbel earned the win with his eighth-inning strikeout. The freshman's record stands at 2-1. Sophomore Aaron Jenkins (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) started the game and surrendered two earned runs on six hits through five innings for a no-decision.

Offensively, the Douglas brothers combined for five hits, two homers and five RBI; Brandon finished the game 3-3. Featherston finished 2-4 with a run scored, while Frieske went 3-5 with two runs scored and the go-ahead RBI.