Final Stats

SCHEDULE NOTE: Due to forecasted weather on Sunday, NIU's game versus Bowling Green has been rescheduled for Saturday after game two of the series. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon Central at Ralph McKinzie Field.

DeKALB - Accounting for 17 hits and 12 runs - nine of which occurred in the fourth inning - NIU (12-12, 3-1 MAC) won the series opener against Bowling Green (5-15, 0-4 MAC) in the Huskies first home game of 2015 at Ralph McKinzie Field, 12-3. Ben Neumann (Verona, Wis./Verona Area) picked up his fourth win of the year while Johnny Zubek (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) and Stephen Letz (Dyer, Ind./South Suburban College) finished 4-for-5 with three RBI and four RBI, respectively.

Eight of NIU's 17 hits came in the fourth inning when the Huskies exploded for nine runs as they sent 13 batters to the plate in the 45-minute frame. Both Letz and Justin Fletcher (Pekin, Ill./Illinois Central College) recorded two hits in the inning, marking the first time since 2010 two Huskies accomplished the feat.

Three Huskies also recorded multiple RBI in the inning as Zubek hit a three-run triple and Fletcher and Letz registered a two-RBI double. It was the first time since at least 2011 the Huskies have had three different players record at least two RBI in an inning.

Neumann finished with 7.0 innings and three strikeouts while scattering five hits and three runs. The senior ended his consecutive scoreless innings streak at 18.1 innings, surpassing Eli Anderson's streak of 16.2 innings in 2013.

Letz led the Huskies with four RBI in the game while adding a double and two runs on the afternoon. Zubek finished with three singles, his first career triple and three RBI to go along with his two runs. The junior catcher ended a streak of six straight at-bats with a hit in his final at bat of the game.

"We played well today. I was happy with our effort and focus. We played hard for nine innings," said Head Coach Mike Kunigonis. "Ben didn't have his stuff today but he grinned it out and gave us a good outing. Sometimes you need to find a way and he did that today. Offensively, it was a real good day. We stepped into the box with a consistent plan and approach."

NIU went on the offensive in the bottom of the first inning as it recorded four hits to scratch across three runs on a two-run single by Letz and an RBI single by Fletcher.

After Bowling Green called for two runs in the top of the fourth inning, the Huskies responded with nine runs on eight hits in the bottom half of the inning to build a 10-run lead, 12-2. The nine run inning was NIU's best performance this season, surpassing the Huskies biggest output of a seven run seventh inning at Tennessee Tech on March 1.

Nate Ruzich (Joliet, Ill./South Suburban College) extended his streak to 23-straight games reaching base with a walk in the fourth inning, scoring a run in the same frame. It's NIU's longest streak since Jeff Zimmerman reached base 23-straight games in 2013. Micah McCulloch (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Township) finished the game for NIU on the mound, tossing 2.0 innings as he only allowed one hit and one walk while striking out one in his scoreless outing.

Tony Brandner (Richfield, Wis./Winthrop) and Brian Sisler (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) also had multi-hit and run games as each player had two hits and two runs. Fletcher finished with three hits in the game to give NIU five players with multiple hits on the day.

The Huskies and Falcons will close the series tomorrow as the two will play a doubleheader, beginning at noon Central tomorrow at Ralph McKinzie Field.