CARY, N.C. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team battled in both games Friday afternoon against the Penn State Nittany Lions at the USA Baseball Complex but was swept by scores of 7-3 and 5-1.
 
NIU (0-6) got on the board first in the nightcap. Penn State starting pitcher Daniel Ouderkirk retired the first seven Huskies he faced before Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech.) ripped a triple to right-centerfield. Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) wasted no time driving him in, knocking the first pitch from Ouderkirk into left field for an RBI single and a 1-0 lead.
 
Jacob Wilde (Waukesha, Wis./Madison College) held Penn State scoreless through the first four innings. He left two runners on base in the second by striking out Grant Norris. Anthony Steele led off the third with a single but Wilde retired the next three batters to keep the Huskies ahead. The Nittany Lions tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. After getting a double play, Wilde walked Steele and Jay Harry. Thomas Bramley then hit a single to right field to bring in Steele and make the score 1-1.
 
The Huskies had a chance to break the tie in the top of the sixth. Peters led off with a single to right field, getting to second base on an Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) sacrifice bunt. Peters got to third on a wild pitch but was kept there as Ouderkirk got back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. Penn State then took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Johnny Piacentino hit a double to left field with one out, then scored on a single by Kyle Hannon that put the Nittany Lions up 2-1. Nick Bonk (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) entered the game from the bullpen in relief of Wilde and struck out Tayven Kelley for the second out. Hannon stole his way to third and was brought home by a Norris infield single that made the score 3-1.
 
NIU put two runners on base in the top of the eighth with a Demetral single and a walk to Peters with one out from Penn State closer Steven Miller. Miller got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts. The Nittany Lions extended the lead with a two-run home run by Norris to take a 5-1 advantage. Miller retired the side in the ninth to earn the save.
 
Demetral was 2-for-3 in game two, with Peters going 2-for-2 with a walk. Wilde struck out five in 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits.
 
"Jake was great for the second straight start," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "He did a great job battling for us today. We needed to be better for him at the plate and grind out a couple more at-bats and find a way to scratch a couple more runs."
 
Penn State (3-2) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game one. With runners at the corners and one out, a Billy Gerlott groundout to shortstop Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) drove in Thomas Bramley from third. The Huskies had a chance to tie the game in the top of the second inning. NIU loaded the bases with one out on base hits from Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) and Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) and a walk to Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College). Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) attempted a bunt with the runners in motion and missed, leading to Summerhill being tagged out on the third base line. The Nittany Lions' starting pitcher Travis Luensmann then struck out Nelson to end the threat.
 
Penn State's lead grew to four in the bottom of the second as a Bramley RBI single and a two-run double from Gerlott made the score 4-0. The Huskies got on the board in the top of the fourth. NIU had runners at the corners and two out when Kelley laced a single to left field to bring in Summerhill for the Huskies' first run. The Nittany Lions matched NIU's run in the bottom of the fourth as Jay Harry scored from second on a throwing error, making the score 5-1. Penn State led 7-1 before NIU tacked on two runs in the top of the eighth on a two-run double off the bat of Summerhill, making the score 7-3 which was the final score.
 
Summerhill and Kelley both were 2-for-3 at the plate in the opener and combined to drive in all three runs. Relief Pitcher Jacob Draeger (Johnston, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) allowed two runs on four hits in three innings with one walk and one strikeout.  
 
"Today was not the results we wanted, but we're getting closer to the team I know we can be," Kunigonis said.
 
NIU continues its weekend in North Carolina on Saturday, Feb. 25 against Monmouth. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--