EVANSVILLE, IN — The Northern Illinois University baseball team earned its first win of the 2021 season Sunday afternoon, using a five-run fourth inning to defeat the Evansville Purple Aces 7-4 at German American Bank Field.
"We did a great job offensively with two outs today and found ways to get it done," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "It was a great team win today. We battled and grinded all game."
Trailing 1-0 through three innings, NIU (1-2) set itself up for a big inning in the fourth when
Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) led off with a triple.
Brady Huebbe (Peru, Ill./Illinois Valley CC) then reached base after being hit by a Caleb Reinhardt pitch. Huebbe advanced to second on a
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) groundout, giving the Huskies two runners in scoring position with one out. Reinhardt got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but designated hitter
Jacob Schroeder (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) kept the Huskies' threat alive with a two-run single to centerfield to put NIU ahead 2-1.
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Ill./College of DuPage) followed with a single. Freshman second baseman
Jack Blazevich (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) then made his first career hit as a Huskie count as the rookie delivered a three-run home run over the left centerfield fence to give NIU a 5-1 lead.
"Jack came through in the clutch and had a heck of a day for his first-ever start at the collegiate level and Brady swung a hot bat all weekend," Kunigonis said.
Evansville (3-4) got a run back in the bottom half of the fourth on a Malley sacrifice fly. NIU extended the lead in the fifth. Huebbe led off with a single and stole second base. Dunham drove in Huebbe with a single to left field to make the score 6-2. The Huskies then loaded the bases with one out on a
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) single and Larson walk. Blazevich drove in his fourth run of the game with a sacrifice fly to put NIU ahead 7-2.
The Purple Aces scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but the NIU bullpen held Evansville in check from there.
Brandon McPherson (Chicago, Ill./Wabash Valley Col.) threw three shutout innings to close the game for his first save, allowing just two hits with three strikeouts.
NIU pitching combined for 12 strikeouts on the day.
Connor Langreder (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) earned the win in his first career start, striking out six Purple Aces over 4.2 innings while allowing three runs on five hits.
Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) allowed one unearned run in 1.1 innings of work with a trio of punchouts.
"Langreder gave us a good start when we needed it most," said Kunigonis. "Tristan got his feet under him and did a solid job out of the bullpen and McPherson did a great job to bounce back and close the door."
Huebbe was 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored. Smith went 2-for-5 as Blazevich was 1-for-3 with four RBI.
The Huskies are back in action March 5-7 for a series at UTRGV. The series begins with a game on Friday, March 5 at 12 p.m.
—NIU—
