DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (10-25, 6-6 MAC) salvaged the final game of their three-game series against Kent State (19-12, 7-2 MAC) in walk-off fashion Sunday afternoon, winning 8-7. The Huskies led three different times in the game before having it decided with two outs in the ninth.
 
"It was an emotional day today with plenty of ups and downs," Head Coach Mike Kunigonis said. "It was great to end on a high note walking off for the win."
 
The game was won in the ninth on a two-out single up the middle by Samuel Vega on a full count pitch, scoring pinch runner Alec Barger from second base. Barger was running for Luke Yapp who singled to lead off the inning then Barger was bunted over to second by Jason Gasser.
 
The NIU offense had it's swing going in the series finale as Yapp and Jacob Dunham led the was each going 4-5. Yapp drove in two runs with a two-out single in the seventh to give NIU the lead after Kent State had gotten their first lead of the game.
 
Dunham hit his second home run of the season in the eighth inning as his solo shot tied the game again after Kent State had scored two in the top half to take a 7-6 lead. The Huskies hit two home runs on the day as Mike Roberson also crushed his second of the year with a solo shot in the second inning.
 
Forgotten in the late inning lead changes was the performance put on by NIU starting pitcher Donovin Sims who went five and two-thirds innings allowing three runs, two earned on seven hits and four walks while striking out three.
 
Sims left with the lead but Ryne Blanton struggled against the potent Kent State lineup in extended work. George Faue and Andrew Frankenreider each pitched two-thirds scoreless innings with Frankenreider earning his first win of the season.
 
The Huskies knocked KSU starter Joey Murray out of the game in the third inning after scoring four off of him with one in the first inning, two in the second and another in the third. Coming into the game, Murray was top-two the Mid-American Conference in ERA (1.70) and strikeouts (55) but today walks hurt him as he gave out four free passes and gave up five hits in two and a third innings.
 
NIU is now 6-6 in MAC play at the halfway point of the conference schedule with their next weekend series serving as their bye weekend with an odd number of teams now in the MAC.
 
"This group continues to fight and battle to the very end," Kunigonis said. "This was a great job by a scrappy team and we need to keep this type of scrappy play rolling into next week."
 
The Huskies will spend the next week on the road in the state of Indiana as they will play Indiana State in a mid-week on Tuesday and Evansville in a three-game series over the weekend.