Final Stats

NIU 6, BGSU 0 

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Earning their first back-to-back shutouts of the season, the NIU baseball team (18-25, 12-6 MAC) picked up its first series sweep of the season at Bowling Green (16-28, 6-12 MAC) Sunday, 6-0. The Huskies have now won four-straight MAC series and are tied for first with Ball State in the MAC West title race.

“It was nice to see us finish a weekend and play solid baseball for 27 innings,” said Head Coach Mike Kunigonis. “It was another great performance by (Donovin) Sims and a great outing for (Joey) Ceja. We need to continue this momentum into Tuesday versus Valparaiso and then versus Toledo next weekend.”

Donovin Sims (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) improved to 5-2 on the season with his 7.0 inning performance. The sophomore fanned three and did not surrender a walk as he hurled 104 pitches, including 80 strikes (76.9 percent). Joey Ceja (Ottawa, Ill./Heartland CC) tossed 2.0 innings in the combined shutout, striking out two with no hits and one walk.

Earning his first start of the weekend, Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster) went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and an RBI. Stephen Letz (Dyer, Ind./South Suburban College) registered two RBI as he drove in the first run of the game on an RBI single and another run via a sacrifice fly.

Northern Illinois University plated two runs in the top of the first, as Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) singled to start things off for the Huskies. With two runners on, Letz singled to score Wood from second and push Brian Sisler (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) to third. A Justin Fletcher sacrifice fly would double NIU’s lead, 2-0.

On the mound, Sims scattered 11 hits but did not break as the error-free Northern Illinois defense forced the outs behind the Huskies' hurlers.

NIU scored one more run in the fourth on a Johnny Zubek (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) double down the right field line and plated three more in the seventh and eighth innings, scratching two in the seventh.

The series sweep marked the Huskies first of the season and their first in Mid-American Conference play since April 12-14, 2013 versus WMU at Ralph Mckinzie Field.

The win was also NIU’s sixth-straight victory, its longest winning streak since April 3-10, 2001 in non-conference play.

The Huskies back-to-back shutouts were the programs first since April 25-26, 2014 at Western Michigan, extending the team’s scoreless streak to 19 innings.

Northern Illinois University will return home this week, hosting Valparaiso on Tuesday, May 3 and Toledo on May 6-8. The Huskies will host Senior Day festivities prior to Sunday’s game.