MARION, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team got off to a good start to the weekend, defeating the Chicago State Cougars 4-3 and the Omaha Mavericks 8-5 at Rent One Park on Friday.
"It was a grind of a day and the guys did a great job," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We battled and kept on chipping away in game one and we started to swing the bats a little better in game two. Our bullpen was fantastic in both games.
Paul Turelli did a fantastic job in game one and settled us down.
Parker Kirkpatrick came in in really tough situations and controlled innings."
NIU (6-4) trailed Chicago State 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning in the first game of the day.
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) was hit by a pitch from Cougars starting pitcher Dylan Cumming to lead off the frame, then reached second on a balk.
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) moved Smith into scoring position with a single through the left side.
Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) made the score 3-2 by hitting into a fielder's choice that scored Smith from third.
After
Paul Turelli (Lake Forest, Ill./Heartland C.C.) threw a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, the Huskies took the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland C.C.) started the rally with a lead-off double to right field.
Brady Huebbe (Peru, Ill./Illinois Valley C.C.) moved Barnes to third with a single but was caught too far off first base for the first out.
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) tied the game at three with an RBI double.
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) put NIU up 4-3 with a single to right that scored Dunham from second base.
Chicago State (2-7) threatened to tie the game in the top of the eighth. The Cougars had two runners on with two outs but
Parker Kirkpatrick (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) got Gabriel Coburn to foul out to Larson at first base to keep NIU ahead.
Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) secured the win for NIU in the ninth, pitching a perfect ninth for his first save of the season and a 4-3 Huskies win. Turelli got the win in relief, allowing just one run in 5.2 innings. Huebbe, Dunham, and Lonteen each had two hits in the opener.
Omaha (4-4) took an early 1-0 lead in the second game as the second Mavericks batter of the game, Keil Krumwiede, hit a home run over the fence in left centerfield. NIU tied the game at one in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out RBI single from freshman catcher
Jacob Schroeder (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor).
The Huskies broke the tie with four runs in the bottom of the third. Huebbe started the rally with a two-out single down the left field line and a steal of second base. Dunham then tripled to straightaway centerfield, scoring Huebbe to give NIU a 2-1 lead. Larson followed with a triple of his own down the right field line that brought in Dunham to make the score 3-1. Lonteen smacked a double to right center to give the Huskies a 4-1 advantage. Smith then brought in Lonteen with a run-scoring single to make the score 5-1.
NIU led 6-2 after four innings as starting pitcher
Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) struck out five Mavericks in the first four frames. Lasiewicz pitched out a bases-loaded, no-out threat in the top of the fourth by striking out Masen Prososki and getting Breyden Eckhout to ground into an inning-ending double play. Omaha scored two runs in the fifth to make the score 6-4 and threatened to take the lead in the top of the seventh. With two outs and the bases loaded, the Mavericks made the score 6-5 as Jack Lombardi scored on a Kirkpatrick wild pitch. Kirkpatrick then walked Grant Goldston to load the bases once again. The junior got NIU out of the inning with the lead by getting Chris Esposito to ground out to Lonteen at shortstop.
The Huskies extended their lead in the bottom of the eighth.
Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) singled up the middle to start the inning, then moved into scoring position on a Barnes sacrifice bunt. Huebbe laced a double to right center to bring in Joyce to score and give NIU a 7-5 lead. With two outs and Huebbe at third, Larson reached on an infield single that scored Huebbe and made the score 8-5.
Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) slammed the door on Omaha in the ninth, pitching a second scoreless inning for the save and an 8-5 Huskies victory.
"We got a lot of good things going on and we have a lot of things we still need to clean up," Kunigonis said. "We had a bunch of two-out hits and guys are really starting to feel comfortable in the box which is good. We just got to continue that and come back tomorrow and go win a weekend."
Lasiewicz scattered seven hits in 6.1 innings for his first win of the season, allowing five runs of which three were earned with five strikeouts. Schroeder was 3-for-3 in game two as Huebbe was 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Larson was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI as well.
The Huskies take on Omaha tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Rent One Park.
--NIU--
