The good news was that the Huskie baseball squad produced two runs on seven hits Saturday against the Razorbacks. The bad news was that SEC power Arkansas churned out 12 runs on 15 hits as they defeated NIU, 12-2, in Fayetteville’s George Cole Field.

Arkansas took the early 1-0 lead in the fourth, but the Huskies came back with two runs in the top half of the fifth. Chip Paulsen and Chris Burt led the inning off with singles and were brought to the plate by two other base hits from Dan Colucci and Joel Schmitz.

Arkansas took the lead again, and for good, with a barrage of runs in the bottom half of the fifth. However, the Razorbacks did not stop there as they insured their victory with two runs in the sixth and three more in the eighth.

For NIU starter David Dutton (0-1), it was a nightmare. He did everything right, but Arkansas still managed to tally nine runs on 11 hits in five and two-thirds innings.

“David threw well into the fifth inning,” said NIU head coach Joe ‘Spanky’ McFarland. “They just executed and got a couple of hit-and-runs. They didn’t hit the ball hard, so I left him in there, but Arkansas did a good job of hitting the ball where we weren’t.”

Six players reached the bases and scored in the sixth inning, but McFarland felt there was nothing that could have been done.

“It was strange—they weren’t hitting the ball hard but they got six runs in that inning,” said McFarland.

Arkansas’ Carl Stall was the leading Huskie killer with a 4-for-5 day, three RBIs and a double. Kyle Harris and Rob Hughes pitched in with three RBIs apiece for the Razorbacks.

NIU’s bright spots included Paulsen, who went 2-for-4 while scoring a run. Colucci went 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and one RBI, while Mike Birsa extended his hitting streak to five games.

Arkansas ups their record to 11-5, while the Huskies dropped to 2-5-1 and will travel to Chicago State next weekend for a noon doubleheader.