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May 18, 2007

Box Score

WATERLOO, Iowa- A brilliant eight-inning effort by starter Nick Kirk ended in a no-decision, as the University of Northern Iowa baseball team ceded two runs in the ninth to surrender a 3-1 lead and allowed a run in the 10th to give Bradley a 4-3 extra innings victory.

Kirk (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) scattered six hits and struck out nine in eight outstanding innings of work, but couldn't notch a win after a two-run Bradley ninth tied the game. Bryan Westphal (Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead) took the loss after closing out the ninth and allowing the winning run to cross the plate in the tenth. His record stands at 2-3 on the season.

Three Panther pitchers threw in a pivotal ninth inning where Bradley (30-18, 13-10) erased a two-run deficit and knotted the game at three. A sacrifice fly, an untimely walk and an RBI double to left field erased the Panther lead and sent the game to the bottom of the ninth.

UNI (22-28, 7-16) positioned runners at first and second with two away in the ninth for pinch-hitter Jeremy Weih (Wilton, Iowa/Wilton). Weih lifted a two-strike pitch into the night, but fell short of a walk off home run by a matter of 10 feet.

A run in the top of the 10th gave Bradley a 4-3 lead and a scoreless bottom for the Panthers ensured the 4-3 victory for the Braves.

Brett Featherston (Epworth, Iowa/Western Dubuque) broke a three-inning scoreless tie in a fourth inning that saw UNI score all three of its runs. Featherston stroked an RBI double down the left field line that scored Eric Hoffmann (Erskine, Minn./Win-E-Mac) and ended a personal five-game slide for the slugger. The junior finished 1-4 with an RBI and a run on the night.

Nick Cameron (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) followed Featherston with a seeing-eye single that escaped the gloves of both the shortstop and the third baseman and plated two more Panther runs. Cameron made the most of his first start since May 6, finishing 2-3 with two RBI.

Bradley chipped at the lead in the sixth, plating a single run but leaving a pair of runners aboard. Kirk rebounded to retire the side in the sixth and made quick work of the Braves in the seventh. He came out to pitch the eighth, struck out the first and last batters of the inning, and left with a 3-1 lead.

The Panthers and Braves play the rubber game Saturday at 2 p.m.