DEKALB -- Want to give yourself a headache?
Try to explain this great game of baseball.
The pitching matchup Thursday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field on the Northern Illinois University campus was made in heaven -- as well as in the Joliet area.
Western Michigan University junior right-hander Ethan Hollingsworth from Plainfield South High School against NIU senior right-hander Trevor Feeney from Joliet Catholic Academy. Two of the best in the Mid-American Conference going head-to-head in the opener of a crucial three-game series.
The radar guns were out in force behind the plate, with the major league baseball amateur free-agent draft coming up in early June. Hollingsworth has been pegged as a potential high choice, perhaps as high as the top 50. Feeney was selected in the 39th round a year ago by the Kansas City Royals, but after thinking it over, he decided to return to NIU for his senior year. He should be picked again.
Hollingsworth came in 5-5 this season with a 3.68 ERA. He had worked 73 1/3 innings over 11 starts and had allowed 71 hits and 20 walks while striking out 69.
Feeney also had made 11 starts and was 5-4 with a 3.67 ERA over 83 1/3 innings. He had allowed 96 hits and 23 walks while striking out 49. He also had the distinction of leading the MAC in overall innings and complete games, plus conference wins, innings and complete games.
Oh, by the way, Feeney had pitched at least six innings in 16 of his last 17 starts over two seasons.
So what happened?
Why, the two aces combined to throw 72 pitches in a first inning that ended with Western Michigan on top 5-3. And that was only the beginning.
Feeney lasted four innings, allowed five home runs in all and left with Northern Illinois trailing 10-4. His line read 4 innings, 10 hits, 10 runs, 9 earned, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts.
Hollingsworth worked through five innings, having thrown 97 pitches. His line read 5 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, only 1 earned, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.
On any normal day, Hollingsworth would have gotten his sixth win, and the Broncos would have secured a huge victory in their quest to qualify for next week's MAC Tournament.
But this was no ordinary Thursday. Trailing 11-4, Northern Illinois scored five times in the bottom of the eighth inning -- three on the seventh home run of the game, Bobby Stevens' towering home run over the left-field foul pole -- and came up with three in the bottom of the ninth to win 12-11.
Yes, the wind was blowing out, but there was no explaining the degree to which the ball was jumping off the bat.
Go ahead, try to explain this great game of baseball.
"I haven't had a game like that," Feeney said. "It was pretty unbelievable.
"But that's what I like about baseball. You never know what could happen, or when something like this might happen."
Feeney normally falls into the category of being a thinking man's pitcher. On this aberration of a day, he ran out of ideas.
"A couple of them hit good pitches," Feeney said. "It just seemed like all they had to do was put the barrel of the bat on the ball and get it up in the air, and the wind would carry it out.
"I really did not know where to throw it. Wherever I put it, if they got the bat on it, it might go out."
Hollingsworth expressed similar feelings.
"Seven homers ... tell me about it," he said. "The ball was jumping off the bat. Anytime anybody got it up in the air, it had a chance to leave the park."
Western Michigan (28-20-1, 11-11) grabbed a 5-0 lead, the last three on Joe Sheets' three-run homer, an absolute bomb to right-center field, before Feeney retired a batter.
But Hollingsworth's first inning had its moments as well. The Broncos' defense collapsed behind him, making three errors as Northern Illinois (25-23, 15-9) got back within 5-3. In addition, Hollingsworth went to a full count on three consecutive hitters.
"We made too many errors early on, and I thought the strike zone was pretty tight," he said.
Still, Hollingsworth weathered the storm and was well on his way to victory. But the late 11-4 lead somehow evaporated.
"Stuff always happens in baseball," Hollingsworth said. "I can't believe we let them claw back in it.
"Now, we can't think about this. We have to keep battling the rest of this series."
Today's game begins at 3 p.m. The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Saturday on NIU's Senior Day. Western Michigan University freshman right-hander Brian Stroud, the Providence Catholic graduate who carries a 6-0 record, will try to spoil the Huskies' celebration.
Two other Providence graduates, shortstop Grant Simotes and left-handed relief pitcher Brian Schutzbach, are prominent members of the Western Michigan roster.
Simotes, a red-shirt freshman, has started every game at shortstop and is hitting right at .300, beside playing outstanding defense.
He singled hard to left field on the first pitch Feeney threw in the second inning, although Feeney gained a measure of revenge in third when he struck out Simotes. Simotes walked on four pitches in the fifth inning and groundout out to third to end the seventh.
Defensively, he was involved in a play that at the time appeared to help the Broncos seal the deal.
Northern Illinois, trailing 11-4, had two runners on with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. Simotes was the middle man on a potential 4-6-3 double play, but the relay pulled the first baseman off the bag. The base umpire then ruled interference on Stevens, the NIU runner, and the double play indeed was recorded.
"He slid outside the bag and actually grabbed my foot," Simotes said. "You don't always get that called, but today they made the call."
Lots of things happened on this Thursday afternoon in DeKalb that you don't see every day.
If Feeney and Hollingsworth faced each other in their next start, chances are the final score would be a whole lot different than 12-11.
But, hey, this is baseball, after all.
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