Baseball Earns Split with Northern Illinois in 2017 Home Opener

Junior Zach Thomas went 2-for-3 in CSU's home opener today against Northern Illinois

Box Score

CHICAGO – Chicago State baseball took advantage of unseasonably warm weather here today as it took on local rival Northern Illinois in its 2017 home opener at Cougar Stadium.

The Cougars claimed a 7-6 victory in a thrilling 12-inning affair in the makeup of last Sunday's postponed game from the White Sox Invite in Phoenix before dropping a 4-0 decision in a seven-inning contest to the visiting Huskies.

Both teams battled back and forth defensively for four innings with each team threatening to score in the 10th and 11th.

After leaving a Huskie runner stranded at second base in the top of the 12th, the Cougars went to work in the bottom half of the inning that began with senior Rick Salazar (Bloomingdale, Ill./Plainfield South) leading off with a walk and later stole second before crossing home plate on junior Jacob Vanitvelt (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc)'s double left field on the next play for the victory.

Junior Matt Paciello (Wellington, Fla./Park Vista) led the Green and White by hitting 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and scored two runs. Vanitvelt recorded two hits in the contest along with junior Matt Sullivan (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Huntley) and sophomore Malik Carpenter (Chicago, Ill./Mt. Carmel). Sophomore Joe Baier (Suamico, Wis./Bay Port) earned his first pitching victory of the season by throwing 2.1 scoreless relief innings and allowed two hits.

Brad Wood and Jesus Tovar each posted three hits for the visitors, while Matthew Hoffman took the loss after giving up a run and a hit in 1.2 innings throw.

In the second game, NIU broke a scoreless tie in the third inning after Tommy Hook blasted a solo home run off starting pitcher Josh Perkins (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) to left field for a 1-0 advantage.

The visitors increased its lead to 2-0 in the sixth on an RBI single to left field from Brad Wood that brought home Roderick Bynum, who reached base on a walk three plays earlier. Two more unearned runs crossed the plate for the Huskies in the seventh inning for the final margin.

Junior Zach Thomas (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West ) paced the Green and White by hitting 2-for-3 at the plate, while Perkins (0-1) took the loss after allowing a run on three hits to go along with posting three strikeouts in four innings thrown.

Brad Wood hit 1-for-1 and drove in two runs to lead the Huskies (1-3). Nathan Thomas tallied a game-high five strikeouts over four innings of work to capture the win.

CSU (2-2) now heads to Atlanta this weekend for the Perfect Game Invite that begins on Friday afternoon against Fort Wayne with a start time of 3 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#2 Joe Baier: IF/OF/P; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R-R

#5 Malik Carpenter: IF; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R-R

#32 Josh Perkins: P; 6' 5"; Senior; R-R

#22 Rick Salazar: IF; 6' 0"; Senior; R-R

#26 Matt Sullivan: IF; 5' 10"; Junior; R-R

#44 Zach Thomas: P/OF; 5' 11"; Junior; L-L

#23 Jacob Vanitvelt: OF; 5' 10"; Junior; L-L

#34 Matt Paciello: OF; 5' 11"; Junior; R-R

Players Mentioned

#2 Joe Baier
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R-R
: IF/OF/P

#5 Malik Carpenter
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R-R
: IF

#32 Josh Perkins
: 6' 5"; Senior; R-R
: P

#22 Rick Salazar
: 6' 0"; Senior; R-R
: IF

#26 Matt Sullivan
: 5' 10"; Junior; R-R
: IF

#44 Zach Thomas
: 5' 11"; Junior; L-L
: P/OF

#23 Jacob Vanitvelt
: 5' 10"; Junior; L-L
: OF

#34 Matt Paciello
: 5' 11"; Junior; R-R
: OF

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned