Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The Belmont University baseball team (6-7) dropped a 4-1 decision, Friday evening to the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies in game one of the three-game set.
Senior RHP Aaron Quillen (Kingsport, Tenn.) battled through seven innings but was saddled with his first loss of the year. Quillen put forth a gritty effort on the mound but Northern Illinois was a pesky bunch of batters all evening long. NIU registered five infield hits, and seemed to hit it where the Belmont defenders weren't, quite often. Despite allowing 13 hits, Quillen got through seven innings of work and put forth a valiant effort to save the Bruin bullpen for the remainder of the series. Quillen finished with eight strikeouts and now has 33 punchouts in just 27 innings pitched.
Brennan Washington (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) led BU with three hits and an RBI as he continued his excellent first few weeks of the season. Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.) reached base twice with a hit and a walk while scoring BU's lone run. Washington and Hadden are now hitting .462 and .391 on the season, respectively.
The Bruins finished with 10 hits for the second straight game but it wasn't enough as they could not string them together at opportune moments.
Ben Kocher (Zionsville, Ind.) notched his third multi-hit game of 2016 with a two-hit performance.
The first inning was indeed a microcosm of how the rest of the day would go for Belmont. NIU's Brad Wood singled to center, stole second and advanced to third on a ground out. With two outs he stood at third while Quillen sought to retire Brian Sisler and get out of the inning unscathed. Quillen induced a nubber off the bat of Sisler which looked like it may end the inning but the ground ball to first base had a mind of its own as it took a weird hop past first basemen Alex Ward (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) After one inning Belmont trailed 1-0.
The Huskies pushed two more runs across in the third as Wood again started the rally with another infield single.
The fourth and fifth innings were quiet for both squads as neither the Bruins nor Huskies scored but BU would break through in the sixth. After Kocher led off with a single, but was cut down attempting to steal second, Hadden coaxed a walk out of NIU starter William Anderson. Hadden would scoot to second base on an ensuing wild pitch to put himself in scoring position. Washington hit a ball into what looked to be in the gap between shortstop and third but NIU shortstop Sisler made a nice play to cut the ball off. After Sisler cut off the ball though,it bounced away from him and Hadden alertly advanced all the way home from second base.
After Belmont had cut it to 3-1, NIU responded by putting its first three batters on base to open the seventh. Quillen really bared down and struck out the next two Huskie hitters. NIU sent a pinch hitter, Brandon Mallder to plate, playing the right lefty matchup. Quillen nearly retired him, but on a 3-2 breaking ball missed just wide of the plate resulting in a walk and a fourth NIU run. Quillen retired the next batter to get out of the inning.
Christopher Carroll (Hendersonville, Tenn.) logged two scoreless inning in relief for BU, coming on in relief for Quillen, pitching the eighth and ninth innings.
The Bruins threatened in the bottom of the seventh, but with runners on the corners, they could not come up with a timely hit. Again in the ninth, the Bruins put the tieing run at the dish, but pinch hitter Nick Egli (Brentwood, Tenn.) struck out looking to conclude the game.
Belmont and NIU resume series play tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Rose Park.
