Ryan Anetsberger went 2-5 with one RBI however Illinois State could not hold an early lead, as the Redbirds fell 5-3 to Northern Iowa in Missouri Valley Conference play Friday night at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa.
Taking the loss for Illinois State (19-21, 4-9) was senior Brandon Gale (1-2). Gale, who was making the first start of his ISU career, lasted four innings and gave up five hits and four earned runs while striking out six.
Picking up the win for Northern Iowa (18-22, 3-10) was right-hander Jeff Hille (4-4). The redshirt freshman went seven innings and struck out eight batters while allowing on two earned runs.
The Redbirds jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, after Anetsberger doubled in a run in the first and Lee Fischer doubled in another in the second to give ISU a 2-0 lead after the top of the second.
Northern Iowa would get on the board in the bottom of the third, when Clayton Daniels hit a 3-1 fastball to dead center for his second home run of the season, cutting the ISU lead to 2-1 after three.
The Panthers would jump out to their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth as they would get four runs off of Gale. Andrew Farmer and Patrick Moran had back-to-back, two-RBI doubles to give UNI a 5-2 lead at the end of the fourth.
ISU would open the top of the fifth would back-to-back doubles by Chris Frank and Jay Molina, but Matt Bolts sac fly would bring home the only run of the inning and cut the Northern Iowa lead to 5-3.
The Birds would miss a golden opportunity in the top of the seventh. After Frank and Molina led the inning off with consecutive singles, they would be stranded on the bases, keeping the score at 5-3.
With two outs in the ninth, Molina would walk and Matt Bolt would reach on an error to put runners on the corners with two outs for Illinois State
The two teams will play the second of their three games this weekend Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Senior Ned Schauff (4-3) will make the start for Illinois State in a game that can be heard on AM 1230 WJBC.
