AVON, Ohio – The NIU baseball team (17-38, 11-13 MAC) dropped their second Mid-American Conference tournament game to Eastern Michigan (24-34, 14-10 MAC) by a final of 8-7. With that lose, the Huskies were eliminated from the tournament, ended their 2017 season.
"First, I want to make sure that I thank our senior class for all of their contributions to the NIU Baseball Program," Head Coach
Mike Kunigonis said. "This class of young men is the first since 07-08 that went to back-to-back MAC tournaments."
In the game, the Huskies took a 3-1 lead in the second inning behind a two-RBI single from
Jason Gasser and an RBI triple from
Roderick Bynum. That lead was held until the fourth inning when the NIU infield made three errors leading to two EMU runs.
Starting pitcher
Donovin Sims pitched well enough to keep the Huskies in it despite the errors going five and two-thirds innings allowing six runs, three earned, on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
NIU tied the game at 4-4 on an RBI single from
Brad Wood in the sixth but the Eagles took the lead right back with two of their own in the bottom of the inning. The Huskies mounted another comeback in the eighth when the first three batters of the inning reached with two walks and a single. Then
Samuel Vega grounded into an RBI fielder's choice and
Jesus Tovar III poked a two-RBI single into the outfield.
Eastern Michigan got out of that inning but got into another jam in the ninth as
Tommy Hook smoked a one-out double and Wood walked. The EMU pitcher induced a double play ball to end the game and the Huskies' comeback ended there.
"We need to address many areas that we need to be better at in the offseason if we want to be back next year fighting for a MAC title," Kunigonis said. "We have made many strides forward this year even though our record may not reflect it."
The Huskies will head into the offseason as some players will go to Summer ball teams, others will take the Summer off and 11 seniors/graduates will leave the program. For HuskieBall Summer updates, follow on Twitter @NIU_Baseball and online at niuhuskies.com.
