CHICAGO – The Northern Illinois University baseball team split a doubleheader against the Valparaiso Crusaders Saturday at Cougar Stadium, taking the second game 5-2 after Valpo won the opener 7-6.
 
"Today was a grind of a day for us," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We expected both games to be tight ballgames. Now we have to go into Sunday ready to go. This is like a normal MAC weekend for us."
 
Valpo (3-13) took a 2-0 lead to start game two when Christian Barczi hit a two-out two-run single to left field in the top of the first. NIU manufactured a run in the bottom half. Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) led off with a walk, then got to second base on a wild pitch. He then stole third, setting up a Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) sacrifice fly that made the score 2-1. The Huskies tied the game at two in the second inning when a Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) sacrifice fly drove in Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College).
 
Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) kept the Crusaders off the scoreboard after the first. The sophomore struck out eight batters in five innings, scattering eight hits. He had a pair of strikeouts in the second, third and fourth innings. NIU tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Szczasny led off with a single and got to second on a Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) groundout. With two outs, Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) reached on an error by third baseman Brent Jones that allowed Szczasny to score and give the Huskies a 3-2 lead. Larson followed with a run-scoring base hit up the middle that made the score 4-2.
 
NIU's (4-14) bullpen combination of Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) and Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) slammed the door on Valpo in the final four innings. Seebach got a key double play and a strikeout in the sixth and worked around a two-out double in the seventh. Thomas retired the side in the eighth, as NIU added an insurance run for him in the bottom of the inning. Szczasny led off with a walk and stole second base. He then advanced to third on a long foul out by Dunham. Lonteen brought in Szczasny on a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-2. After allowing a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, Thomas got Sam Shaikin to ground into a double play and struck out designated hitter Blake Billinger to end the ballgame.
 
Larson was 1-for-2 with two RBI in the nightcap, as NIU scored its five runs on just five hits. The Huskies drew four walks and stole three bases in game two. Lasiewicz earned his second straight win, and third on the season.
 
"The one thing we did today that we haven't done is take advantage of the other team's mistakes," Kunigonis said. "We didn't have a ton of hits, but we walked, we stole a lot, and we moved runners into scoring position. It was really good to see us do that, because you're going to have to grind it out sometimes like that."
 
Despite taking an early lead in game one, NIU fell behind 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third. Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) led off the inning with his first home run of the season to get the Huskies back within one run. Valpo responded with three more runs in the top of the third to take a 6-2 lead. Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) put NIU back within three with his two-out RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, making the score 6-3.
 
After getting two shutout innings of relief from junior Ryan Anderson (Palatine, Ill./McHenry CC), NIU rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Szczasny drew a walk to make the score 6-4. Dunham then delivered a two-run single to left field to tie the game. Drew Hasson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) entered the game in the seventh and retired the first five batters he faced, getting Riley Dent to ground into a double play for the first two outs of the eighth. Dawson then stepped up to the plate and homered over the right field fence to give the Crusaders a 7-6 lead. Easton Rhodehouse made that lead hold up, retiring NIU in order in both the eighth and ninth innings to give Valpo the game one win.
 
Dunham was 2-for-4 in game one with three RBI. Mutter was also 2-for-4. Freshman Erik Hedmark (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown) allowed six runs on nine hits in four innings in the first game. Anderson, Hasson, and Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) combined to allow just one run on seven hits over the last five innings. In nine innings of work Saturday, the NIU bullpen allowed one run on 11 hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
 
"That's what we need out of those guys more consistently," said Kunigonis. "If we can get that same type of stuff out of Ryan and we can get that out of Nate every time out, which we really can learn to rely on him and Kyle, we're going to have a really good MAC season if those guys can continue to do that for us."
 
The two teams wrap up their series in Chicago on Sunday, March 17 at 12 p.m.
 
--NIU--