The starting rotation for the NIU baseball team has to be pleased with their performance yesterday. However, instead of the win column showing what went right, it was the error column that showed what went wrong as the Bradley Braves swept the Huskies, 3-1 and 4-1, yesterday on Ralph McKinzie Field.

Between the two games, both squads committed seven errors in the overcast day that brought interrupted drizzle at points of the doubleheader. However, it was the five error total by NIU that helped the Braves triumph.

Game One saw both teams go scoreless for the first two innings before the Braves broke into the scoring column with two in the top of the third inning. A Joel Schmitz error brought across the first run, and Bradley never looked back.

NIU came back with one in the bottom of the third, and Bradley padded their lead with one in the top of the fifth.

The Huskies committed three more errors while leaving eight stranded on the base pads. Starter Jesse Richardson, who went the entire distance, received the loss on only one earned run and three hits while striking out four.

“Our pitchers did well today,” said NIU head coach Spanky McFarland. “It’s the fielding errors which got to us.”

Second baseman Greg Gargani went 2-for-3 on the day, while shortstop Joel Schmitz did the same with the only Huskie RBI.

Bradley left fielder Pat Graham picked up the Braves’ only RBI to go with one hit and a walk. Starting pitcher Brook Smith held NIU to one run on six hits, while striking out eight to pick up his second win of the season.

In Game Two, Bradley wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as they produced four runs to open the game. With two outs, the Braves took advantage of a Brian Schmack wild pitch and walk, a Schmitz error and three hits to conjure the only runs of the game for BU.

NIU came back with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and Jeremy Bergman and Dave Markusic came in to shutout Bradley for the remaining two innings. However, NIU could not scrape up any runs as the Braves’ Brent Walker held the Huskies in check, giving up one run on five hits, while striking out six in the process.

BU right fielder Mike Burke knocked in two with his double, while Graham went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Schmack picked up his third loss on one earned run on seven hits to go along with his three strikeouts.

On the offensive side, Gargani (1-for-3, double) was the only Huskie to cross the plate and one of five to snag hits for NIU, while left fielder Zach Zavac picked up the only RBI.

“If it doesn’t rain the next couple of days, we’re going to take the field and work on nothing but ground balls,” said McFarland. “Because of the weather, we really haven’t had the repetitions we need in practice. We can’t field a lot of grounders when practicing indoors. Also we’re not over the hump as far as mentally thinking we can play with some of these teams. We’re right there with them, but the players can’t see that right now. They need confidence.”

The error statistics for NIU skyrocketed as Schmitz picked up his sixth and seventh of the season. Gargani (11), first baseman Chip Paulsen (2) and third baseman John Ryan (8) also had problems in the field.

The Huskies fall to 6-13-1 after the sweep, while the Braves will take an incredible 20-3 record back to Peoria and the Missouri Valley Conference.

NIU will continue its homestand and its Mid-Continent Conference schedule this Saturday when they host the Vikings of Cleveland State for a doubleheader.