MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team nearly rallied in the nightcap of Sunday's doubleheader against the Central Michigan Chippewas at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but the Huskies were swept on the day by scores of 12-0 in seven innings in the opener and 8-5 in game two.
 
NIU (6-25, 6-12 MAC) took an early lead in game two. Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) drew a walk with one out, advancing to second base on an Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) groundout. Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) drove him home with a single through the left side, giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Central Michigan answered with a Justin Simpson RBI sacrifice bunt and a run-scoring single off the bat of Danny Wuestenfeld to take a 2-1 lead. The Chippewas extended their lead in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs with two coming on a Mario Camilletti single to go up 5-1.
 
Matt Salomonson (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) entered the game from the NIU bullpen in the bottom of the third and proceeded to strike out the side. He followed that up with a 1-2-3 fourth inning. NIU got back on the board in the top of the fifth. With runners at second and third and two outs, Brandon Johnson (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) placed a perfect bunt single to score Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, D.R./Ellsworth CC) and get the Huskies within three, 5-2. Just as in the first inning, Central Michigan had a response to the NIU tally. A two-out, two-RBI single by Drew Lechnir capped a three-run inning for the Chippewas, giving the home team an 8-2 lead.
 
The Huskies made a bit of a late rally to get back in the game. With one out in the top of the eighth, Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) laced a single to right field. Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) followed with a single to left field. After a pop out for the second out, Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) drove in both runners with a single up the middle to make the score 8-4. Caleb Pittman (Suffolk, Va./Bryant & Stratton College) threw two scoreless innings of relief going into the top of the ninth. However, NIU only mustered one run in the ninth on an RBI groundout from Johnson to make the final score 8-5.
 
Central Michigan (18-10, 13-1) sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom the first inning of game one. A two-run double by Wuestenfeld and a three-run triple from Lechnir highlighted what was a seven-run inning for the Chippewas. NIU got its first hit of the game off of CMU starting pitcher Garrett Navarra in the top of the second on a one-out single from Malik Peters. The Huskies would not get their next hit until the top of the sixth on an Aranda single to centerfield. In that stretch, Central Michigan tacked on five more runs to take a 12-0 lead which went on to be the final score.
 
"We need to be better in all facets of the game," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We need to take this MAC bye week and get back to the fundamentals of the game."
 
NIU plays its final non-conference games of the season next weekend when it heads to Oakland for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 15 at 1:30 p.m. CT. The Huskies and Golden Grizzlies will play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 16 starting at 12 p.m.
 
--NIU--