KENT, Ohio - The Northern Illinois University baseball team rallied from three runs down to tie the Kent State Golden Flashes 7-7 in the sixth inning Saturday at Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium, but the hosts scored five runs in the eighth to come away with a 12-7 victory.

NIU (3-11, 0-2 MAC) started its comeback with one out in the top of the sixth. Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) reached on an infield single off of Kent State relief pitcher Benny Roebuck. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) followed with a single to left field. Designated Hitter Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) drove in Harper with a base hit to right field, making the score 7-5 as Summerhill got to third base. Calvin Bickerstaff entered the game from the Kent State bullpen and after Kosobucki stole second, a wild pitch allowed Summerhill to score and get NIU within a run at 7-6. Bickerstaff got a strikeout for the second out, but Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) delivered a single up the middle to bring home Kosobucki and tie the game 7-7.

Kent State (10-4, 2-0 MAC) took back the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Collin Mathews led off with a walk off of Nick Bonk (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson), then stole second and third base. Aidan Longwell drove in Mathews with a bloop single to left field to put the Golden Flashes up 8-7. Catcher Justin Miknis followed with a double down the left field line. Shortstop Michael McNamara then hit a three-run home run over the left field fence to make the score 11-7. Kent State tacked on another run on a Connor Ashby two-out RBI single to go up 12-7. Mitchell Smith came in to pitch the ninth for the Golden Flashes and retired the NIU side in order to secure the win.

"We have to play better," said head coach Mike Kunigonis after Saturday's game. "The effort and buy-in is there, we just have to step it up on the execution front."

The Huskies got off to a fast start in the top of the first. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) led off with a walk. He then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by Miknis. Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech.) laced a single to left field to bring in Erato and give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. A walk to Harper and a base hit by Summerhill loaded the bases.

Kosobucki reached on a fielder's choice as Kent State starting pitcher Joe Whitman dropped the ball covering first base, allowing Harper and Summerhill to score to put NIU up 3-0. With runners at the corners, a wild pitch brought in Summerhill for the Huskies' fourth run of the first inning. NIU loaded the bases once more on a Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) single and Smart being hit by a pitch. Whitman struck out the next three batters he faced to get out of the inning.

Kent State responded in the bottom of the second inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Mathews hit a single up the middle to drive in two runs and cut NIU's lead in half at 4-2.  Longwell followed with a base hit down the left field line to bring in Josh Mrozek and make the score 4-3. Miknis put the Golden Flashes in front with a two-run triple to centerfield, scoring Mathews and Longwell to give Kent State a 5-4 lead. NIU loaded the bases in both the third and fourth innings, but came away empty in both frames.

Demetral was 3-for-5 at the plate with a run batted in and a run scored. Summerhill also had three hits and scored two runs. The Huskies left 11 runners on base as a team. Matt Salomonson (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) threw 4.1 innings of relief, allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts. NIU pitching allowed 11 walks on the day.

"We had too many missed opportunities at the plate and too many free bases defensively," Kunigonis said. "Once we start doing a better job with the controllables, we will start consistently having opportunities to get in the win column."

The weekend series concludes on Sunday, March 12 with a 12 p.m. CT first pitch.

—NIU—