FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The University of Northern Iowa baseball team matched a school record for runs scored in a 28-17 rout of Indiana Monday afternoon at Chain O’Lakes Park.
Travis Bennett, James Dinizo and Levi Ferguson each tallied five hits to help the Panthers finish with 28 hits. Dinizo also finished with six RBIs and four runs scored, and Bennett finished with five RBIs and five runs scored. Scott Airey (1-0) allowed just one earned run in one inning to earn his first win with the Panthers.
Indiana (6-9) held the Panthers (8-9) scoreless in the top of the first and then tacked on three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take an early 3-0 lead.
Jeff Taliaferro hit an RBI double in the top of the second to put the Panthers on the board. Ferguson hit an RBI single, and Taliaferro was thrown out at the plate on the play, keeping a 3-2 lead for the Hoosiers.
Indiana matched UNI’s two runs in the bottom of the second, and the Panthers put up another two runs in the top of the third to bring the score to 5-4.
UNI held the Hoosiers without a run in the bottom of the third, and in the top of the fourth Jason Summers doubled with the bases loaded to score two runs and give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 6-5. Bennett hit a two-RBI triple, and Dinizo hit an RBI single to cap a five-run inning and stretch the Panthers’ lead to 9-5.
Indiana scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut UNI’s lead to two, 9-7.
In the top of the fifth, Andy Steichen scored on an error, Grant Grgurich hit a two-RBI triple, Chad Arp hit a two-run home run, Bennett hit an RBI single, and Dinizo hit a two-RBI double to plate eight runs and extend the Panther advantage to 17-7.
The Panthers held at least a six-run lead from then on, scoring four runs in the sixth, six in the seventh and a solo run in the ninth.
The Panthers combined to hit .519 as a team in the game. All 10 Panthers with a plate appearance notched a hit, eight of them collecting two or more. The 28 runs matches the school record set against Colgate in 1994. The 45 combined runs sets a new record for UNI, edging the 44 total runs scored when UNI faced Mount Mercy in 1985.
UNI returns to action on Friday when it opens conference action at Southern Illinois.
