CHICAGO – Senior Michael Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (Whiting, Ind.) recorded two hits to tie Chicago State's all-time hits record Wednesday afternoon as the Green and White battled visiting Northern Illinois in a mid-week contest at Brooks Field before dropping a close 4-2 decision. The Huskies improved their season record to 15-16 and the Cougars fell to 4-23 on the year.
Carpen finished the game hitting 2-of-4 and scored a run to tie former Cougar Mark Winston's (1990-93) record of 192 hits. He already broke Winston's school record for at-bats earlier this month and has produced 585 career at-bats.
NIU took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Jeff Zimmerman blasted an RBI double off CSU starter Jonathan Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (Whiting, Ind.) to left center which scored Troy White, who reached on a three-base fielding error with one out.
The visitors added a second run in top of the sixth when Zimmerman hit a leadoff double to right center and later scored on an RBI sacrifice fly from Joe Battaglia to left field to increase its advantage to 2-0. The Green and White came back to even the score at 2-2 in the bottom half of the sixth when junior Tony Sanchez (Plainfield, IL/Heartland CC) (Plainfield, Ill.) hit an RBI single off NIU reliever Ian Anderson to bring home Michael and Albert Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark), who reached base via a single and a walk, respectively.
In the seventh inning, the Huskies scored two runs with an RBI single from Alex Jones and White's RBI sacrifice fly to right field to regain the lead. CSU had a chance to send the game into extra innings in the ninth inning with two runners in scoring position and two outs, but NIU reliever Kyle Glancy forced an infield popout to seal the win.
Camacho also went 2-of-4 for Chicago State offensively, while Sanchez finished 1-of-4 and drove in two runs. Michael is Albert Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (1-4) allowed three runs (two earned) in three innings of relief to take the loss for the Cougars. Jonathan Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) recorded two strikeouts and walked three while allowing an unearned run in four innings during his second pitching start of the season.
NIU was led by Cory Krupp, who recorded a 2-of-3 offensive output on the day with two stolen bases, while Anthony Andres (1-0) captured the win by pitching two scoreless relief innings and Glancy posted his sixth save of the year.
CSU welcomes NYIT to Brooks Field this weekend for a four-game Great West Conference series beginning this Friday at 3 p.m.
~CSU~
