NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team won its second consecutive game on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Belmont Bruins 7-5 at E.S. Rose Park.
"It was another good win today," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "Mike [Lasiewicz] gave us a very good start and a chance to win right out of the gate. Offensively, we battled all day and had some very clutch at-bats."
Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) earned his first win of the season, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings. The sophomore struck out seven Bruins with one walk and two hit-by-pitch.
Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) posted his first save of the year with two shutout innings of relief. At the plate,
Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) and
Connor Montgomery (Newport Beach, Calif./Canyon) each had two RBI. Shortstop
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
NIU (2-4) staked Lasiewicz to a 3-0 lead before he even stepped on the mound.
Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) led off the game with a single, then advanced to second base on a groundout by Lonteen. Szczasny drove in Joyce with an RBI base hit to center for the game's first run. With two on and two out,
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) was hit by pitch by Belmont starter Kyle Brennan to load the bases. Montgomery then delivered a two-run base hit through the right side, scoring Szczasny and
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) to put the Huskies up by three.
Lasiewicz did his part to keep NIU in front, retiring the first six batters he faced with three strikeouts. NIU took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third when Dunham and
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the frame. Smith put the Huskies ahead 5-0 when he scored on a two-out wild pitch. NIU scored another two-out run in the top of the fourth, as a Szczasny single drove in Lonteen from second base to make the score 6-0.
Belmont (1-4) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. With runners at first and second with two out, Jackson Campbell laced a triple to left centerfield, driving in Hunter Holland and Tommy Crider to put the score at 6-2. Lasiewicz allowed one hit in the fifth and the sixth to keep the Huskies' lead at four. The Bruins cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the seventh. Logan Jarvis led off with an infield single off NIU reliever
Eric Hammer (Rochester, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley). Grayson Taylor then doubled to left field, scoring Jarvis from first to make the score 6-3. Zach Ehrhart followed with an RBI triple to get Belmont within two, 6-4. Chas Hadden then grounded out to
Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) at second base, bringing in Ehrhart to make the score 6-5. Hammer got out of the inning by getting Crider to ground out and Holland to foul out.
NIU got a run back in the top of the eighth. Lonteen hit a two-out single to left field, scoring McKermitt to make the score 7-5. Thomas retired the side in Belmont's half of the eighth, striking out two Bruins. After hitting Taylor with a pitch in the ninth, Thomas locked down the win with a fielder's choice and a strike out of Hadden.
Nine of the Huskies' 13 hits Saturday came from its 2-through-5 hitters in the lineup – Lonteen, Szczasny, Dunham, and Smith. NIU also scored five of its seven runs with two outs.
"We need to build on this momentum heading into tomorrow's game and be ready for a very good Austin Peay team," Kunigonis said.
NIU wraps up its weekend in Tennessee on Sunday, Feb. 24 with a 1 p.m. game at Austin Peay.
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