Before Wednesday’s game, NIU baseball coach Ed Mathey told his team it had to get better at manufacturing runs.

Stepping onto the bus after a 3-0 loss to the University of Illinois-Chicago, the Huskies still need a little work in that department.

Despite getting nine hits and putting runners in scoring position, NIU (10-23) just couldn’t come up with a clutch hit to put a few runs on the scoreboard.

“I thought we had the right guys up at the plate at the right times,” Mathey said. “We just didn’t put the bat on the ball.

“We need to keep getting runners on base, though. Swinging for home runs is not going to help us.”

Eric Sansouci and Jeremy Busch led the Huskies as both went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Bart Babineaux led UIC’s (19-14-1) offense, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

The lack of run support squandered a solid effort from pitcher Matt Jernstad. The freshman gave up two runs on six hits while striking out seven.

“Matt had a great game,” Mathey said. “He really pitched well and if not for a little pop-up, he would have given up no runs.”