NORMAL, IL - The Northern Illinois University baseball team went toe-to-toe with the Illinois State Redbirds early in Wednesday's game at Duffy Bass Field, taking a 5-4 lead before the Redbirds scored seven unanswered runs for an 11-5 victory.

Illinois State (15-22) got off to a fast start in the bottom of the first. Shai Robinson and Auggie Robinson drew back-to-back walks off of Sam Pederson (Verona, Wis./McHenry County College) to lead off the inning. Shaydon Kubo put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Daniel Pacella then hit a three-run home run down the left field line and over the wall to put the Redbirds up 3-0. Pederson got a pair of groundouts to get out of the inning.

NIU (7-32) responded in the top of the second. The Huskies loaded the bases on walks to Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) and Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) and a single by Tyler Thierry (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC). Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) put down a squeeze bunt with one out to drive in Peters for the Huskies' first run. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) drew the third walk of the inning to load the bases. Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) tied the game 3-3 with a two-run single up the middle.

The Redbirds took a 4-3 lead with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the second. NIU took its first lead of the game in the top of the third. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) led off with a double to left field. Borberg retired the next two batters before Kelly launched his third home run of the season, a two-run shot over the left field fence, to give the Huskies a 5-4 lead. Illinois State regained the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third, capped by an RBI single from Shai Robinson, to go up 8-5.

The Huskies had a chance to tie the game in the top of the fourth. NIU loaded the bases on walks to Nelson and Demetral and a hit by pitch by Erato, but Illinois State reliever Zach Holcomb retired the next three batters to hold the Huskies off the scoreboard. Holcomb allowed just one hit over his four innings of work with six strikeouts. Illinois State gave him two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to take an 11-5 lead.

"It's tough overcome some of the early deficits we've put ourselves in, but we've been battling," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We had a good chance in the fourth, bases loaded and no outs with our three, four and five hitters up and just couldn't make it happen. We put the barrel on the ball right at them."

Demetral went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in as Kelley also drove in two runs. Doty allowed one hit in 2.1 innings, striking out three Redbirds. Tommy Meyer (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa East) allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth inning.

"Doty and Meyer did a great job on the mound," Kunigonis said. "It was a great bounce back for those two guys. Hopefully that can give us some momentum going into the weekend."

The Huskies host the Akron Zips this weekend for a three-game Mid-American Conference series at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. First pitch on Friday, April 28 is set for 3 p.m. CT.

—NIU—