DEKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team won its series opener against the Ohio Bobcats Friday afternoon by a score of 7-6 at Ralph McKinzie Field.
"Every weekend is a grind and a battle," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "All seven of our games could have gone either way, and that's what league play is. We have to continue to battle, and today was a good start to the series."
Ohio (8-19, 3-4 MAC) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. With two outs and a man on first, Trevor Hafner hit a single through the left side of the infield. NIU's
Erik Hedmark (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown) then walked Michael Richardson to load the bases. Treyben Funderberg then drove in two runs with a single to left field to put Ohio up 2-0. Cole Revels followed with an RBI single to right field, but the Huskies were able to throw out Funderburg attempting to score another run and hold the Bobcats to three runs.
NIU (8-21, 4-3) wasted no time getting on the board in the bottom of the first.
Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) led off with a single and got to third base on a
Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) double. After a groundout,
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) cleared the bases with a double to right field to make the score 3-2. Dunham advanced to third on a groundout.
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) then put the Huskies ahead with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot over the left field fence to give NIU a 4-3 lead.
"It was a great answer," Kunigonis said. "They scored three, so we scored four. That's what good teams do. When you're a good team, you're a tight knit group and you pick each other up."
The Huskies tacked on another run in the bottom of the third.
Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) laced a two-out RBI single to left field to score
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) and give NIU a 5-3 lead. Hedmark settled in from there. The freshman lefty had a pair of strikeouts in both the third and fourth innings to keep Ohio off the scoreboard. He also worked out of a bases loaded situation in the fifth by getting Funderburg to popout to Lonteen at shortstop to end the inning.
The Bobcats had another chance to tie the game in the top of the eighth. After
Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) got Richardson to fly out to lead off the frame, Funderburg and Revels hit back-to-back singles. After a fielder's choice gave Ohio runners at the corners, Michaels got pinch-hitter Zyon Avery to pop out to
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) at first base to end the inning. NIU put two insurance runs on the board in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run single by Lonteen to take a 7-3 lead into the final inning.
Ohio attempted a rally in the ninth off NIU closer
Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian). It started with Trevor Lukkes leading off the inning by reaching on an error. After an Aaron Levy walk, first baseman Rudy Rott crushed a three-run home run to right field to make the score 7-6. Thomas beared down at that point, retiring the next three Bobcat batters in order to wrap up the NIU win.
Joyce was 2-for-3 in the game, scoring two runs. Lonteen was 2-for-4 with two RBI, giving him 11 RBI in Mid-American Conference play. Dunham and Smith also had two RBI. Hedmark gave NIU a quality start, allowing three runs in 6.2 innings. He scattered nine hits, walking two with five strikeouts.
"We needed that from Erik today," Kunigonis said. "We needed to give our bullpen some breathing room and he did that, which is going to give us an opportunity to go and get tomorrow too without a taxed pen. He showed a lot of heart and guts today."
Game two of the series between NIU and Ohio is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Ralph McKinzie Field.
--NIU--
