CONWAY, Ark. – Led by a pair of RBI from both Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Bradford) and Hunter Bross (Scottsdale, Ariz./Mesa Community College), the Northern Illinois University baseball team earned a 6-3 win over Central Arkansas in the second game of a three-game weekend series Saturday.

The Huskies tallied a pair of runs in the second inning, single tallies in both the fifth and seventh, and two more in the ninth to nail down its first win of the season. Senior Donovin Sims (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) earned the win in relief as he tossed five solid innings. He fanned three batters and didn't give up an extra base hit.

"Great team win," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "It's always nice to get the first one of the year under your belt. Our bullpen was locked down. Sims gave us five great innings and settled us down."

After Central Arkansas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Huskies' starter Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./ Mishawaka Marian), NIU countered in the second when Jandrowski roped a two-run single to center field, allowing both Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska/Arizona Western) and Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) to score. Central Arkansas responded with a run in the bottom half of the frame, but NIU padded its lead in the fifth when Samuel Vega (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) singled up the middle, advanced to third on a single from Dunham and scored on Bynum's RBI groundout.The Bears tied the game, however, at 3-3 in the seventh when a Huskie miscue allowed a run to cross the plate, but the visitors shook off the blunder in the eighth when Jandrowski walked, advanced to second on a Bross sacrifice bunt and scored on Szczasny's single up the middle. NIU then polished off the victory in the ninth when Bross connected for the biggest hit of the game – a two-run double to right-center field, which allowed both Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster) and Bynum to score.

"Our offense grinded like it always does and kept battling all night," Kunigonis said. "It was great to see Hunter have two knocks and a huge double to give us some breathing room going into the ninth."

Defensively, the Huskies turned one double play while Andrew Frankenreider (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) came on in relief in the eighth inning and retired all five batters he faced.

"Frank was vintage Frank. He's been working extremely hard to get back where he was [before he was injured]," Kunigonis said. "Today he was better than ever."

Vega, Dunham, and Bross each connected for a pair of hits while Szczasny, Wood and Jandrowski each had one of NIU's nine hits."We'll enjoy the first one for a more hours then get locked in on tomorrow to focus on winning the series."

NIU (1-1) looks for the series win tomorrow afternoon when freshman right-handed pitcher Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) makes his collegiate debut at 1 p.m.

Live Stats, Audio and Video for this weekend's games are available via the Central Arkansas Athletics Website
Stats:  http://sidearmstats.com/uca/baseball/
Video: http://ucasports.com/watch
Audio:  http://ucasports.com/KUCA

-NIU-