DEKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team lost the rubber game of its three-game series with the Kent State Golden Flashes 10-3 on Sunday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field. 
 
"Today was a missed opportunity," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "It was an opportunity to take two and win a weekend from a really good team. Unfortunately, we didn't do enough on our side of the ball in many different phases."
 
NIU (12-27, 8-7 MAC) starting pitcher Ryan Anderson (Palatine, Ill./McHenry CC) was very efficient to start the ballgame. The junior right-hander needed just 16 pitches to retire the first six Kent State batters he faced. The Golden Flashes got the first hit of the game with one out in the third on a Kevin Dobos single. Justin Kirby then reached on a fielder's choice that erased Dobos for the second out. Kirby then stole second and scored when Ben Carew reached on an error, making the score 1-0. Kent State went up 2-0 on an RBI single by Cam Touchette.
 
Kent State (18-19, 7-6 MAC) took a 3-0 lead in the fourth on a Collin Mathews sacrifice fly. The Huskies put a run on the board in the bottom of the fourth. With runners at the corners and two out, NIU attempted a double steal. Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) drew a throw to second from Dobos and retreated enough to allow Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) to score before being tagged out to end the inning.
 
The Golden Flashes blew the game open with five runs in the top of the fifth inning, highlighted by a two-RBI triple by Kian O'Brien, to take an 8-1 lead. Kent State added two runs in the sixth to go up 10-1. NIU got sacrifice flies from Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) in the bottom of the sixth and Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) in the seventh to make the score 10-3.
 
Drobushevich extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the sixth inning. Smith was 2-for-3 on the day to make him 7-for-14 in the series with eight RBI. Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) threw 3.1 scoreless innings to finish the game, striking out four with one walk and no hits allowed.
 
"We need to come back and battle against Illinois State on Tuesday, then get ready for Miami," Kunigonis said. "This league is a grind. We have four weeks left to continue to battle. We're in really good shape at 8-7 in the league. We just have to play better."
 
NIU goes on the road Tuesday to face Illinois State. First pitch is at 5 p.m., with the game being broadcast on ESPN+.
 
--NIU--