OXFORD, OH – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored 11 runs in the final three innings Sunday afternoon to defeat the Miami RedHawks 13-3 Sunday afternoon at McKie Field, and take the series from Miami for the third consecutive season.
"This was a huge series win on the road," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We have been waiting to see this performance out of our team for a while now. We excelled on the mound, defensively, and at the plate."
NIU (14-29, 10-8 MAC) opened the scoring in the top of the second.
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) and
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) strung together back-to-back singles with one out.
Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) then stepped up and hit a single to left center, scoring Smith from second base to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) drew a walk to load the bases. Miami starting pitcher Jack Corbell held NIU to that lone run by getting a groundout to end the inning.
The Huskies put another run on the board in the top of the third. With
Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) on second after stealing the base with two outs, Smith smashed a triple to right center to bring in Drobushevich and make the score 2-0. Miami (31-12, 12-6 MAC) had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. A Landon Stephens ground-rule double, followed by walks to Jordan Stephens and Colin Shepherd, loaded the bases with two outs. NIU starting pitcher
Ryan Anderson (Palatine, Ill./McHenry C.C.) ended the threat by getting Parker Massman to foul out to
Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) at third base.
Anderson threw four shutout innings before
Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) entered the game in the fifth and threw two scoreless frames of his own. NIU gave itself some breathing room in the top of the seventh.
Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) singled to right field off of RedHawks reliever Tyler Bosma with one out, then got to second base on a passed ball. McKermitt then singled to right field, followed by a walk to Szczasny to load the bases.
Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Illinois/Parkland College) reached on an error that made the score 3-0.
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) then singled to left field, bringing in McKermitt and Szczasny to give NIU a 5-0 lead.
NIU took advantage of two early errors in the eighth inning to score six runs and go up 11-0. With the score 7-0, Drubushevich hit a two-run single to score Joyce and Szczasny. With the bases loaded and two outs, Larson drew a walk to score Dunham and make the score 10-0. Drobushevich then scored on a wild pitch for NIU's 11
th run of the day. Miami scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the Huskies responded with a two-run single by Drobushevich in the top of the ninth to make the score 13-3.
"It was a great start from Ryan [Anderson] combined with our bullpen of
Nate Thomas and
Ty Jandrowski," Kunigonis said. "Offensively, we did a great job adding runs late when we needed them the most."
Joyce, Drobushevich, Smith, and Mutter each had two hits in the game. Drobushevich had his second four-RBI game of the year as Dunham added three RBI. Every Huskie in the lineup Sunday drew at least one walk, as NIU got 11 free passes in total. Anderson allowed four hits in four scoreless innings. Thomas earned his second win of the season while throwing a season-high three innings.
Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) got the final six outs, allowing just one hit.
NIU returns to Ralph McKinzie Field on Friday, May 3 to open a three-game series against the Ball State Cardinals. First pitch is at 3 p.m.
--NIU--
