KENT, OH – Behind eight strong innings on the mound from
Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) and timely hitting, the Northern Illinois University baseball team won its Mid-American Conference opener 6-3 over the Kent State Golden Flashes at Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium Friday afternoon.
"It's always great to go and get Friday of a weekend series," said head coach
Mike Kunigonis. "We got a Friday night-type performance from Lasiewicz today. He was fantastic and battled for us and gave us eight great innings."
Kent State (6-6, 0-1 MAC) put a run on the board in the bottom of the first. Cam Touchette drew a walk from Lasiewicz to lead off the inning, then stole second and reached third on an error. Ben Carew brought Touchette in to score on a sacrifice fly to put the Golden Flashes ahead 1-0.
NIU (2-10, 1-0 MAC) put five runners on base in the first two innings but were held scoreless by Kent State starting pitcher Ryan Lane. The Huskies took the lead in the top of the third.
Dylan Lonteen (Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) led off with a single, reaching second on a passed ball. Catcher
Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) drove in Lonteen with a double to left center, tying the game 1-1. Dunham got to third on a foul fly off the bat of
Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School).
Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) then stepped up to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Dunham to put NIU ahead 2-1.
The Golden Flashes tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when a Justin Kirby RBI single made the score 2-2. NIU took the lead back in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Joyce laced a base hit up the middle off relief pitcher Richie Dell to score two runs and give the Huskies a 4-2 lead. Erato followed with a walk to load the bases. Barnes drew a walk as well to score
Jack Blazevich (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) and make the score 5-2.
Lasiewicz did his part to keep the lead at three, retiring the side in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Kent State closed within two in the eighth on a two-out RBI single from Collin Matthews that made the score 5-3. NIU got that run back in the top of the ninth. The Huskies loaded the bases with no outs on an error and two singles. Erato then grounded into a double play that scored
Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) and put NIU ahead 6-3.
Paul Turelli (Lake Forest, Ill./Heartland C.C.) secured the win for the Huskies, pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for his first career save.
"Our bats have been grinding it out for a couple weeks now and were rewarded today for their persistence and sticking to our game plan," Kunigonis said. "We played relatively clean baseball on defense and it showed as we put one in the win column today."
Joyce was 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI. Lonteen and Dunham each had two hits. Lasiewicz got his first win of the season after throwing a season-high eight innings, allowing three runs on six hits and four walks. He struck out a season-high six batters as well.
The weekend series resumes on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. Each game will be seven innings.
--NIU--
