DEKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team set a season-high for hits, led by a pair of two-RBI singles from red shirt sophomore Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill. /Lincoln-Way North), and defeated the University of Illinois-Chicago 10-5 Tuesday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field.

With the victory, the Huskies took two of three from UIC and improved to 10-20 overall. NIU connected for 15 hits, and broke open a 3-3 ballgame with four runs in the third inning, and three in the seventh to earn their second win in the last four games.

"Great series win against a Chicagoland rival," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "It was nice to see the bats come alive today with 15 hits."

NIU posted a 3-0 lead early after an RBI groundout from Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy), a Connor Montgomery (Newport Beach, Calif./Canyon) home plate steal, and Samuel Vega's (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) RBI single to right field, but the Flames tied things up with a three-run home run in the third inning.

UIC's rally didn't last though as the Huskies halted it quickly with an offensive barrage in the bottom half of the third. After Rodriguez drove in his second run of the game on a bases-loaded walk, Mutter roped his first run-scoring hit of the game – a two-run single up the middle, allowing both Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska /Arizona Western College) and Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) to score.  Vega then padded the lead to 7-3 when he connected for a run-scoring single down the right field line, plating Rodriguez.

Red shirt freshman Parker Kirkpatrick (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) earned the win on the mound, as he tossed four solid innings of relief. The hard-throwing right-hander fanned two batters and gave up only two hits while retiring six of the first seven batters he faced as he improved to a perfect 2-0.

NIU added all the insurance it needed in the seventh when Rodriguez roped an RBI single to right field, and Mutter connected for his second two-run single, allowing both Montgomery and Bynum to score. In all, Mutter led the offense with four RBI.

Of NIU's 15 hits, Vega had three, while Mutter, Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence), Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) and Dunham each had two.

"We need to take this good feeling into a tough game against a very good Trinity Christian team tomorrow," Kunigonis said.

The Huskies close out their five-game home stand with the NAIA Trolls at 3 p.m.

--NIU--