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Gertonson/Marcotte

Baseball Corey Miggins, Sports Information Director

Baseball Closes Homestand with 7-5 Defeat to Northern Colorado

Junior Rick Salazar went 2-for-4 with a double in Sunday's series finale against Northern Colorado
Box Score
CHICAGO – Chicago State baseball concluded its Western Athletic Conference weekend series with Northern Colorado in another close battle Sunday afternoon at Cougar Stadium as the visiting Bears escaped with a 7-5 victory.
 
The Bears opened the game with a 3-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by Brett Minnick to left field off CSU starting pitcher Dillon Engle and later increased their advantage to 4-0 on an RBI bunt single from Rob Cashel in the second inning.
 
NC tallied two additional runs in the third inning to hike its leading margin to 6-0 which included Jake Ek's RBI single to left field.
 
After the visitors scored another run to hike its lead to 7-0 in the top of the fifth, Chicago State finally scored their first run in the bottom half of the inning when junior Rick Salazar (Bloomindale, Ill./McHenry) blasted an RBI single of Bear starter Nick Tanner through the left side of the infield to bring home senior Chris Hipchen (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) from second base.
 
Senior Andy Gertonson (Crystal Lake Ill./Central) pulled CSU to within 7-2 in the sixth inning after hitting his team-leading sixth home run of the season with a solo shot to left field.
 
The Cougars added two more runs in the eighth inning that sliced their deficit to 7-4 that started when sophomore Zach Thomas (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West ) lined an RBI single to center field which plated Salazar, who led off with a ground-rule double to left center. Thomas then scored two plays later on a wild pitch.
 
Hipchen came back in the ninth with a solo homer to left field that brought the Green and White to within two runs at 7-5 with one out. The home team later had runners on second and third base with the winning run at the plate, but NC forced an infield groundout to end the game.
 
CSU (9-31, 3-12) was led by Salazar and Hipchen as both players went 2-for-4 at the plate, while sophomore Thomas finished the game hitting 2-for-5. Engle (1-9) took the loss after allowing six runs (three earned) on eight hits in three innings of work. Junior reliever Josh Willis (Omaha, Neb.) posted a game-high six strikeouts and walked one in six innings thrown despite allowing an unearned run on five hits.
 
Nick Tanner did double duty for Northern Colorado (9-25, 4-7) that started hitting 3-for-5 with a stolen base at the plate. Tanner (2-1) also captured the win on the mound with three strikeouts and two walks while allowing two runs on four hits in six innings thrown.
 
The Cougars kick off a five-game road swing on Tuesday afternoon with a trip to Northwest Indiana to play at Valparaiso with a start time of 3 p.m., Eastern Time.
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Players Mentioned

Andy Gertonson

#7 Andy Gertonson

OF/IF
6' 4"
Senior
R-R
Chris Hipchen

#19 Chris Hipchen

OF
6' 2"
Senior
R-R
Zach Thomas

#44 Zach Thomas

P/OF
5' 11"
Sophomore
L-L
Josh Willis

#21 Josh Willis

P
6' 1"
Junior
L-L
Rick Salazar

#22 Rick Salazar

IF
6' 0"
Junior
R-R

Players Mentioned

Andy Gertonson

#7 Andy Gertonson

6' 4"
Senior
R-R
OF/IF
Chris Hipchen

#19 Chris Hipchen

6' 2"
Senior
R-R
OF
Zach Thomas

#44 Zach Thomas

5' 11"
Sophomore
L-L
P/OF
Josh Willis

#21 Josh Willis

6' 1"
Junior
L-L
P
Rick Salazar

#22 Rick Salazar

6' 0"
Junior
R-R
IF