WATERLOO - Northern Iowa's baseball team spent more hours prepping the field than practicing the past two days.

It showed in its performance Wednesday afternoon.

After coming home from their spring trip with a six-game winning streak, the Panthers stranded 12 baserunners and the pitching staff issued 10 free passes - eight walks and two hit batsmen - in a 9-4 defeat to Division III Wisconsin-Platteville at Riverfront Stadium.

"It is absolutely good to get a game like this out of the way now," UNI shortstop Brandon Douglas said. "We played so well in Florida and to come out and play like we did against a team like this, it is hard to take."

In fact, UNI hadn't played since sweeping Northwestern last Friday. It didn't practice Saturday and Sunday, and with snow covering a large portion of the field at Riverfront, much of its manpower was devoted to field maintenance on Monday and Tuesday.

"I just thought we were a little rusty," UNI head coach Rick Heller said. "That said, you hope not to lose to a Division III school, but that's what happens sometimes."

It was UNI's third loss to a non-Division I program in Heller's nine seasons. The last was a 7-3 setback to Upper Iowa in 2006.

UW-Platteville (6-6) came in with a three-game losing streak and a team ERA of 5.38. But the Pioneers trotted out eight pitchers to prevent the Panther offense from finding a groove.

"It's definitely difficult for teams when you do that because the hitters can't get comfortable," UW-Platteville coach Eric Frese said. "And for our guys, we just tell them to get three outs and you're done for the day. It worked out well for us today."

The Panthers (10-9) registered 11 hits but squandered 11 runners in scoring position. Deric Manrique and Levi Ferguson each went 3-for-4.

Meanwhile, after two stellar innings by starter Tim Flattery, the UNI bullpen scuffled. Shuhei Fujiya and Nick Lauver combined to allow eight runs, five walks, four hits and hit two batters in just 1 1/3 innings.

The Pioneers plated seven runs in the fourth to break the game open. Ross Bennett had four RBIs, including a two-run double in the frame.

"The bottom line is, there's no defense for freebies," Heller said. "Lauver and Fujiya were bad. Those guys have to be able to give us an inning or two. Right now, they are not throwing the ball very well.

"On the other hand, I would expect us to score more than four runs. We couldn't get a two-out hit to save our lives today."

Injuries to Michael O'Leary and Derek Ott have decimated UNI's depth in the bullpen, especially for mid-week games.

"We're really struggling to find ways to finish nine-inning games in mid-week right now," Heller said. "We need Flattery and (Joe) Gonzalez for some innings on the weekend.

"Right now, our pitching depth is not the greatest and we've got a lot of young guys with not much experience."

Because of that, Heller believes his offense, comprised mostly of upperclassmen, needs to do more.

"Those young (pitchers) have to get better, but we have to score more runs in mid-week games," he said. "There are games on the weekend where pitchers can pick you up, but today we needed to step up and score a bunch of runs."

Contact Matt Coss at (319) 291-1468 or matt.coss@wcfcourier.com

UW-P'ville ab r h bi N. Iowa ab r h bi

Aplin,lf 2 2 0 0 Manrique,cf 4 1 3 2

Rice,ph 1 0 0 0 Embury,rf 5 1 1 1

Haxton,2b 4 1 1 0 BrDouglas,ss 5 0 2 1

Bennett,cf 5 1 2 4 Lopez,dh 4 0 2 0

Flood,1b 4 1 2 1 Ftherston,1b 3 0 0 0

Hawkins,3b 4 0 0 0 BeDouglas,3b 3 0 0 0

Kuhn,dh 3 1 1 1 Almonte,cf 4 1 0 0

Paulus,c 2 1 0 0 Ferguson,lf 4 1 3 0

Neitzel,rf 4 2 1 0 Ege,2b 4 0 0 0

Benesh,ss 3 0 0 1

Totals 32 9 7 7 Totals 36 4 11 4

UW-Platteville 002 700 000 - 9 7 0

Northern Iowa 110 011 000 - 4 11 2

E - Bre. Douglas, Ege. DP - UW-Platteville 1. LOB - UW-Platteville 8, UNI 12. 2B - Bennett (6), Flood (1); Ferguson (4), Lopez (9). HR - Embury (3). SB - Manrique 3 (4), Bra. Douglas 2 (8), Lopez (2). SH - Hawkins, Bre. Douglas.

Pitching summary

UW-Platteville IP H R ER BB SO

Cox 1.0 1 1 1 1 2

Mack 1.0 2 1 1 0 1

Connolly (W, 1-0) 1.0 1 0 0 1 0

Daniels 1.0 0 0 0 0 2

Linder 1.0 2 1 1 0 1

Davis 1.0 2 1 1 0 0

Brudos 1.0 0 0 0 1 0

Lange 2.0 3 0 0 0 1

Northern Iowa IP H R ER BB SO

Flattery 2.0 0 0 0 0 2

Fujiya (L, 0-2) 1.0 1 3 3 4 1

Lauver 0.1 3 5 5 1 0

Worner 3.0 2 1 0 2 2

Smith 1.2 0 0 0 0 2

Zirbel 1.0 1 0 0 1 1

WP - Cox, Lange; Lauver. PB - Almonte.HBP - by Cox (Manrique); by Davis (Almonte); by Brudos (Bre. Douglas); by Fujiya (Aplin); by Lauver (Paulus).

U - Keitel (plate); Behn (bases). Att. - 78.