DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored 14 runs on 18 hits in the second game of Friday's doubleheader against the Bowling Green Falcons at Ralph McKinzie Field, salvaging a split on the day with a 14-6 victory. Bowling Green rallied in game one for an 8-4 win in seven innings.
 
"We had to take care of our business better in game one," said head coach Mike Kunigonis.  "We had some opportunities to score with runners at second and third and less than two outs. We turned that around in game two and it was great to see. We've been battling and playing hard in the last few weeks here and that's all we want to see."
 
NIU (13-39, 12-24 MAC) took a 1-0 lead in the nightcap on a Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) sacrifice fly that scored Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton), who led off the inning with a walk. Connor Langreder (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) controlled the Bowling Green bats early, recording four strikeouts in the first two innings.
 
Bowling Green (17-33, 13-23 MAC) shortstop Ryan Johnston put the Falcons in front in the top of the third with a two-run home run over the left field fence. NIU responded in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) led off by reaching base on a Johnston error. He then advanced to third on an Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) double. Peters drove in his second run of the game with a single through the left side, scoring Barnes to tie the game at 2-2. The Huskies loaded the bases with walks by Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) and Brandon Johnson (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.). Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) put NIU back in front 4-2 with a two-run single down the right field line.
 
The Falcons went to the bullpen for reliever Isaiah Seidel. Erato, Paxton Kennedy (Mendota, Ill./Illinois Valley CC) and Jack Blazevich (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) welcomed him to the game with back-to-back-to-back RBI singles to make the score 7-2. NIU tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth on a Johnson sacrifice fly to go up 8-2.
 
Langreder had six strikeouts through the first five innings before Bowling Green got back on the board in the sixth. A Tyler Ross RBI double and a Mason Montgomery RBI triple cut NIU's lead in half, 8-4. The Falcons scored another two runs in the seventh on an Adam Furnas two-run double to get within two runs at 8-6. The Huskies bats answered the Bowling Green rally in the bottom of the seventh. NIU scored six runs with two outs in the inning, highlighted by a Johnson two-run single, to take a commanding 14-6 lead. Nick Bonk (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) came in from the NIU bullpen in the eighth and threw two scoreless innings, striking out four Falcons to get NIU the win.
 
"Connor gave us a great go in game two," Kunigonis said. "Tommy Meyer came in behind him and was solid. Bonk finished the game and shut them down like he's been doing in the last five weeks."
 
Peters was 3-for-3 in game two with three RBI. Johnson and Kelley also had three RBI in the win. Langreder struck out seven batters in 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits with four walks.
 
In game one, NIU scored two runs in both the first and second innings to take a 4-0 lead. Back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Barnes and Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, D.R./Ellsworth CC) accounted for the Huskies' two runs in the second. Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) started on the mound for the Huskies and had four strikeouts in the first two innings. Bowling Green tied the game in the third inning, scoring four runs with three coming on a Johnston home run to make the score 4-4.
 
The Huskies had a chance to break the tie in the bottom of the third. NIU had runners at second and third with one out when Bowling Green reliever Jeremy Spezia retired both Harper and Johnson to keep the game level. The Falcons took the lead in the top of the fifth as a two-out RBI single from Furnas gave Bowling Green a 5-4 lead. Bowling Green added an insurance run in the sixth and two in the seventh to win the opener 8-4.
 
NIU and Bowling Green will play a doubleheader on Friday, May 19 with game one starting at 12 p.m. CT. Prior to game one NIU will honor its six seniors – Matt Barnes, Erik Hedmark, Paxton Kennedy, Michael Lasiewicz, Paddy McKermitt and Kyle Seebach – for Senior Day at 11:40 p.m.
 
--NIU--