ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The NIU baseball team (3-12) snapped their seven-game losing streak on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Saint Louis, handing the Billikens their second loss of the season.
 
"When you pitch and play defense, you will always have a chance to win," Head Coach Mike Kunigonis said. "This was a great team win against a very good team."
 
The Huskies were led by a couple of solid individual performances on the mound and at the plate. Pitcher Donovin Sims went eight shutout innings and center fielder Roderick Bynum going three for five factoring in both NIU runs scored.
 
Sims earned his second win of the season, giving up five hits and striking out only one batter but allowing no walks on a total of 104 pitches. Senior Ryne Blanton came into the game in the ninth to earn his first save of the year, striking out two in his three-up, three-down frame.
 
"Sims was awesome and Blanton was back to his normal form," Kunigonis said. "We had a great day on the mound and in the field."
 
Bynum's three hits came in the form of an RBI double with two outs in the fifth to score Alec Barger, a leadoff triple in the eighth to eventually score on a Jacob Dunham sacrifice fly and he added a single in the ninth. Bynum was put into the leadoff spot for the game after spending most of the season hitting in the middle of the order.
 
"Scooter did a great job of coming up big when we needed him offensively," Kunigonis said. "He had a great approach at the plate today and it paid off for him."
 
Junior Brad Wood shined defensively once again in his third start of the season at shortstop helping the Huskies turn two big double plays. First with another diving catch on a line drive up the middle catching the runner off of second base for the force out then starting a big six-four-three double play to end the sixth inning.
 
"We need to build off of today and go into next week feeling good," Kunigonis said. "We are back at it on Tuesday against a good team who we split two games with last year."
 
NIU will face a couple of Big Ten foes coming up next week as they travel to Champaign-Urbana on Tuesday to face Illinois then head to Ann Arbor, Mich. for a four-game weekend series against Michigan.