Final Stats

NIU 17, UB 7 

DeKALB - Tying its season-highs in hits (19) and runs (17), the NIU baseball team (14-25, 9-6 MAC) clinched its third-straight series as it dispatched Buffalo (12-23, 5-10 MAC) on Sunday afternoon, 17-7. Five Huskies recorded multi-hit games with three of those players scoring three times.

Battling through long spells on the bench with the offense rolling, pitcher Donovin Sims (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) hurled 7.0 innings, scattering four hits and striking out six without surrendering a run. The sophomore improved to 4-2 on the season.

The Huskies 19 hits tied their standard at Murray State on Feb. 28 while their 17-runs tied last Saturday’s mark at Western Michigan. Of the 16 Huskies that appeared at the plate, 10 of them recorded hits.

“That was a great series win and a great bounce back outing for Donovin today. We did a great job offensively and we definitely separated several times throughout the game. We need to finish better than we did today and we have some work to do overall but this was a tremendous series win,” said Head Coach Mike Kunigonis.

“We need to get back at it on Tuesday and continue to play well versus a good UIC team and keep momentum going into our next series at Bowling Green,” Kunigonis added.

The Huskies did not hesitate offensively as they scratched across four runs in the first and three more in the second to give Sims a cushion to work with as he retired the side in order three times in the first five frames.

In the bottom of the fourth, NIU tacked on three more runs to take a 10-0 lead, adding one more in the sixth.

Justin Fletcher (Pekin, Ill./Illinois Central College) led NIU with four RBI in the first six innings, going 2-for-4 with a hit by pitch before being substituted out. Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) reached base five times, scoring three times as he went 3-for-4 with two walks. Brian Sisler (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb), Tony Brandner (Colgate, Wis./Winthrop) and Stephen Letz (Dyer, Ind./South Suburban College) also collected three hits in the game.

With substitutes comprising the Huskie lineup, Buffalo scored four runs in the eighth inning. NIU responded with its biggest inning of the game in the bottom of the frame as it recorded six runs, including two on double by pinch-hitter Justin Ruckman (Kankakee, Ill./Herscher). Luke Yapp (Verona, Wis./Madison College) also drove home two runs in the frame with his single down the third base line, capping the Huskies scoring.

Buffalo tacked on three more runs in the top of the ninth to cut its deficit from 13 runs to 10 as Northern Illinois clinched the series, 17-7.

Amongst Brandner’s three hits was the game’s only triple as he registered his Mid-American Conference-best fourth of the season.

NIU will return to action Tuesday, April 26 when it hosts UIC at Ralph Mckenzie Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. Central.