DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University baseball team got a grand slam from Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto CC) and a solo home run from Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) Friday afternoon but the Huskies could not stifle the bats of the Akron Zips in a 19-7 loss at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
 
Akron (15-27, 7-15 MAC) scored took advantage of an NIU error in the first to score two runs, with a Breydan Cavey two-out RBI single putting the Zips up 2-0. The Zips added four runs in the second and another run in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead.
 
NIU (7-33, 4-14 MAC) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Summerhill cracked his team-leading seventh home run over the centerfield fence to make the score 7-1. Sparked by a Sam Seeker leadoff home run, Akron put four runs on the board in the top of the fifth to take an 11-1 lead.
 
The Huskies made a bit of a comeback in the bottom of the fifth. Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) led off by reaching on an error. After a strikeout, NIU loaded the bases with singles by Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) and Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton). Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) kept the line moving with a single to centerfield, driving home Smart to make the score 11-2. Harper then launched a grand slam to the scoreboard in left center, putting the score at 11-6. Summerhill followed with a triple and scored on a base hit by Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) which made the score 11-7. Akron starting pitcher Sammy Tortorella got back-to-back strikeouts, two of his seven in the game, to end the inning.
 
"Offensively, we've had our highs and lows but we've been grinding it out," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We've been fighting our way back from some early deficits recently. We just need to be more consistent at the plate."
 
After scoring six runs in the fifth, the Akron bullpen held NIU to just one hit over the last four innings. Sophomore relief pitcher Conner Lutes (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) did his best to keep the Huskies in the game. Lutes went 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits while tying a career-high with four strikeouts. Akron scored in eight of the nine innings on Friday, capping the day with a five-spot in the ninth for the 19-7 win.
 
"Conner did a good job to settle us down in the middle of the game," Kunigonis said of Lutes' outing Friday. "He limited the big inning and left some runners on base. He's done a good job of rising to the occasion when we needed him to."
 
Summerhill and Nelson both went 2-for-4 at the plate Friday. Harper's grand slam was his fourth of the year.
 
The middle game of this weekend's series is tomorrow, Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--