DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to rally for a 7-6 win over the Akron Zips at Ralph McKinzie Field Friday afternoon.
 
"This was a great character win," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "Our guys just never gave up. They kept battling. We have to play cleaner on defense, but Akron scrapped too and they made us pay for every mistake."
 
NIU (8-27, 7-14 MAC) trailed 6-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) started the rally with a one-out double down the leftfield line. Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland C.C.) then hit a liner that was grabbed by a leaping Brad Goulet at second base for the second out. Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) tied the game with a single to centerfield, bringing in Joyce to make the score 6-6. Senior catcher Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) then came up with the game-winning hit, a double to right field that scored Smith all the way from first to give the Huskies' the 7-6 win.
 
"We need our guys to step up and make plays and Jake did that today with a couple big hits," Kunigonis said.
 
After Akron (9-26, 3-22 MAC) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Dunham quickly tied the game in the bottom of the second. The Huskies' backstop led off the inning with a home run over the left field fence to make the score 1-1. NIU took the lead in the top of the third when a Joyce RBI groundout and a Smith RBI triple put the Huskies ahead 3-1.
 
The Zips came back with two runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game at three runs apiece. Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) broke the tie in the bottom half of the inning, grounding out to shortstop Justin Barr which allowed Brady Huebbe (Peru, Ill./Illinois Valley C.C.) to score from third and put NIU up 4-3. Akron responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, with a Tate Wargo RBI single driving home Zac Granger to give the Zips a 5-4 advantage. Larson drew NIU level in the bottom of the sixth with a run-scoring single, but Akron took the lead in the top of the seventh on another RBI single by Wargo that made the score 6-5.
 
Dunham had a game-high three hits and drove in two runs. Larson and Smith also each had two RBI. Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) struck out a career-high seven batters in six innings but took a no-decision after allowing five runs, of which only one was earned, on five hits and two walks. Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) got the win in relief, allowing one run on two hits in three innings with four strikeouts.
 
The Huskies and Zips will play two seven-inning games on Saturday, May 1 at Ralph McKinzie Field. First pitch of game one is at 12 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on Huskie All-Access on NIUHuskies.com.
 
--NIU--