The first inning feast of the NIU baseball team continued Tuesday at Illinois State. It was the next eight innings that led to a 7-3 defeat to ISU.

“It came down to they executed better than we did today,” NIU coach Ed Mathey said. “There was a good wind blowing in from right field, and their pitchers did a great job of keeping the ball away from our right-handed hitters, and jamming our lefties.”

Junior third baseman Jesse Seykora jump started the NIU (13-17) offense with his team-leading fourth home run of the season. The two-run shot plated junior first baseman Scott Simon.

ISU (11-19) tied the game in the bottom of the first on sophomore short stop Ryan Anetsberger’s RBI single, and a sacrifice fly by junior second baseman Jesse Griswold. ISU took the lead for good in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by junior right fielder Matt Bolt and an RBI triple from Anetsberger.

NIU starting pitcher Brandon Hodge took the loss. The left-handed senior lasted only three and a third of an inning. Hodge took the loss despite allowing only two earned runs. Mathey said the NIU defense wasn’t in top form.

“It wasn’t one of our sharpest games,” Mathey said. “We got off to a good start with the homer from Jesse Seykora. Hodge left some pitches up in the zone, and ISU did a good job of getting back into the game.”

The NIU defense tallied three errors on the day and must head to Northern Iowa for a 6 p.m. game tonight.

With the quick turnaround, there will be no practice time for NIU to iron out its defensive wrinkles. Mathey said the players will have to take advantage of the time they have during batting practice prior to the game in Cedar Falls to sharpen their game.

“A lot of times you hope the second game in a road trip would be the close one,” Mathey said. “Northern Iowa will want to come out and beat us, so we need to get home and rest up, head to some morning classes, and get on the bus around 11 a.m.”

Junior pitcher Matt Jernstad (2-0) will take the mound for an NIU team that has lost three of its last four games.

“The big thing for Matt is he has to stay ahead of hitters,” Mathey said. “He has real good stuff, if he keeps it down, he can be effective because he throws three good pitches.”