BOWLING GREEN, OH – A 4 for 6 day from senior Samuel Vega (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) led the Northern Illinois University baseball team to a series' win with a 12-4 triumph over host Bowling Green at Steller Field Sunday afternoon.

Vega smacked his third home run of the season as the Huskies connected for Mid-American Conference season-high 17 hits in improving their overall record to 19-32, and 8-16 in the MAC.

"Great series' win," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "We saw a lot of very good things from this team. We battled at the plate all day and battled on the mound to get the victory."

The Huskies raced to a 7-0 lead by plating two runs in the first inning, one in the second and four in the third as they earned their third win in the last four games. A Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) two-run double staked NIU to a 2-0 lead in the first, and an RBI sacrifice fly from Hunter Bross (Scottsdale, Ariz./Mesa Community College) put the Huskies ahead 3-0. Smith then drove in two more runs in the third when he laced a two-RBI single to left field, and Bross followed with a two-RBI single for a 7-0 Huskies' lead.

"We had a lot of guys have solid days at the plate," Kunigonis said.

Bowling Green closed within three when it plated a run in the fourth and three in the third, but Vega's smash in the sixth doubled up NIU's advantage coupled with a run-scoring single to give the Huskies a 9-4 advantage. A Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) RBI double then highlighted the offense in the final two frames as NIU polished off the win with two runs in both the eighth and ninth innings.

Junior RHP William Anderson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) earned his second win of the season as he worked five strong innings. He scattered eight hits and gave up four runs while striking out five batters and walking one.  

"Will battled and grinded it out to get the win for us." Kunigonis said.

Along with Vega, Jandrowski connected for three hits, while Smith, Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska /Arizona Western College) and Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster) each had two of the Huskies' 17 hits.

"We need to continue this momentum to finish out the season strong," Kunigonis said.

NIU steps out of MAC play Tuesday when it travels to UW-Milwaukee for a 3 p.m. contest with the Panthers.

--NIU--