BOWLING GREEN, KY. – Freshman Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) earned his second-straight collegiate win as he tossed a seven-inning, four-hit gem and the Northern Illinois University baseball team bounced back to claim the last game of the four-game series with Western Kentucky, 5-0 Sunday.

Lasiewicz struck out six batters to up his season total to a team-best 14 on the year, and walked only one in improving his record to an unblemished 2-0 this season.

"Lights out start by Michael today," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "Our backs were against the wall and he came in and it showed. It was just what we needed."

The hard-throwing right-hander retired seven-straight batters at one point and worked himself out a jam in the seventh after the first two hitters reached base via a hit by pitch and a single. NIU turned a double play, and Lasiewicz fooled the next hitter on a strikeout looking to end the threat.

Prior to that, NIU posted a 3-0 lead when it plated a single run in the second inning and two more in the sixth. After Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) was hit by pitch, advanced to second on a Tommy Washington (Chicago, Ill./Harlan) walk and third on a Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill. /Lincoln-Way North) walk, he came in on a Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) RBI sacrifice fly to center field.

Two more came across in the sixth when Mutter drove in a run on an RBI groundout, and Wood brought in Hunter Bross (Scottsdale, Ariz./Mesa Community College) on a sacrifice fly down the right field line.

"This is a character win by this group. In the not-so distant past we would've packed it in after getting beat the past two days," Kunigonis said. "This is a special group that battles all the time."

The Huskies plated single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to polish off the victory. In the seventh, Samuel Vega (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) singled to center field and third on a single through the right side from Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School), and came around on a wild pitch.  Mutter (single) then scored on an RBI groundout from Vega in the eighth for the final run.

Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Township), Matthew Hoffmann (East Dubuque, Ill./Wahlert Catholic) and Jacob DeLabio (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) combined to throw the final two innings in relief for Lasiewicz and yielded only one hit. Vega (pictured above) led the NIU (3-4) offense as he went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Jandrowski added two hits and Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska /Arizona Western College) connected for a double.

"We were one hit away from splitting the weekend but we will still take this W and feel good going into next week," Kunigonis said.

NIU returns to action March 2-4 when it travels to San Antonio, Texas for a four-game set with the University of Incarnate Word, starting with a 6:30 p.m. single game Friday night.

--NIU--