DEKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team remained perfect at home in Mid-American Conference play Friday afternoon, taking advantage of the wind blowing out at Ralph McKinzie Field to tie a season-high with 17 runs in a 17-11 win over the Kent State Golden Flashes.
 
"Both teams played in the same conditions, and we just answered every time they scored," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We won all but one inning. That's battling and doing a good job fighting. Our guys have been resilient and we need to keep that up."
 
Fourteen of the Huskies' 17 runs came with two outs on Friday. Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) led NIU's offense with five RBI, going 4-for-6 with a home run. Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) was 3-for-4 with three RBI, five runs scored, and his second home run of the season. Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) drove in four runs while extending his hitting streak to 10 games with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) hit his team-leading fourth home run of the season.
 
"Our 2-through-6 guys had the bulk of our RBI, and that's fantastic," Kunigonis said. "That's what those guys are supposed to do. Our confidence at the plate has been a lot better. I don't think we're afraid to face anyone in the league. Today proved it, because Kent State has traditionally been the best pitching staff in the league."
 
Kent State (16-19, 5-6 MAC) took a 7-2 lead through an inning and a half, getting a three-run home run from Patrick Kirby in a four-run first inning. The Huskies responded in the bottom of the second. Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) led off with a walk and stole second base when Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) struck out for the second out of the inning. Joyce drove in Mutter with a single to make the score 7-3. Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) then drew a walk, setting up Dunham who put a towering three-run home run into the jet stream blowing out to left field to make the score 7-6. Drobushevich then drew a four-pitch walk. Smith followed with his second home run of the year, a two-run shot to over the left centerfield fence to give NIU an 8-7 lead.
 
"Coach told me to let it fly if I got the pitch I want," said Smith about his go-ahead home run. "I put my best swing on it and it felt good coming off the bat."
 
The Golden Flashes tied the game 8-8 in the top of the third when Josh Hollander grounded into a double play that scored Kirby. NIU (12-25, 8-5 MAC) took back the advantage in the bottom half of the inning. After Szczasny hit a single with one out, Joyce smashed a home run to right centerfield to put the Huskies ahead 10-8 and knock Kent State starting pitcher Connor Wollersheim out of the ballgame. Reliever Tyler Drabick got Lonteen to foul out for the second out, but walked Dunham and allowed a Drobushevich single. Smith put the Huskies ahead 11-8 with his third RBI of the game, a run-scoring single that brought in Dunham.
 
The Huskies had an answer for each Kent State run the rest of the way. Kirby hit his second home run of the game leading off the fifth inning to get the score to 11-9, but an RBI groundout by Drobushevich and a two-out run-scoring single by Smith extended NIU's lead to 13-9. After Kirby's third home run of the day made the score 13-10 in the sixth, Lonteen delivered a two-out, two-run single to give NIU a 15-10 lead. Kent State scored on an error in the eighth inning to get within four, 15-11. Drobushevich delivered another two-out hit in the bottom of the eighth, bringing in two runs to make the score 17-11.
 
"When people have quality at-bats with two outs, you just have to get it to the next guy," Smith said. "When you keep the line moving like that, you look up and you have three or four runs. That's what we tried to focus on today and did a good job of it."
 
Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) earned the win for NIU, allowing one run on three hits over the fourth and fifth innings. William Anderson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) allowed two runs over the final four innings with two strikeouts to earn the save.
 
Game two of this weekend's series is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
 
--NIU--