DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University baseball team was swept in a doubleheader against the Akron Zips on Saturday, falling 11-9 and 8-4 at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
 
NIU (7-35, 4-16 MAC) took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning in game one. The Huskies put two runners on base with a leadoff walk by Tyler Thierry (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) and a one-out Christian Seegers (Schaumburg, Ill./Creighton) single. Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) drove in the first run of the ballgame on a single, bringing home Thierry for a 1-0 advantage. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) followed with a two-run single to left field to extend the lead to 3-0.
 
Akron (17-27, 9-15 MAC) answered NIU with four runs in the top of the third as a Jack Poist RBI single and a three-run Jack Firestone home run made the score 4-3. The Huskies took back the lead in the bottom of the third. Thierry and Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) hit back-to-back singles with one out. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) cleared the bases with a double down the left field line to give the Huskies a 5-4 edge.
 
"It's been our Achilles' heel all season is giving up the big inning," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We have to find ways to limit the deficits early, and that's defensively and on the mound. If we take care of that we'd look a bit different in the win-loss record."
 
Sparked by a two-run triple from Kaito Hara, the Zips put another four-spot on the board in the fourth to take an 8-5 lead. A Max Bowman home run in the top of the seventh put Akron up 9-5. NIU rallied in the bottom of the seventh. Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling) and Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto CC) drew back-to-back walks leading off the frame. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) then launched a three-run home run off the scoreboard in left center to get the Huskies within a run at 9-8. With runners at first and second and two outs, Nelson drove in his second run of the game with a single to left field that tied the game 9-9.
 
The Zips took back the lead in the top of the eighth on a two-run double off the bat of Breydan Cavey that put Akron up 11-9. NIU had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. Seegers was hit by a pitch with two outs, followed by a walk to Nelson to put the tying run on base and send Erato, the winning run, to the plate. However Akron's Joe Roth picked off Nelson at first to end the ballgame.
 
The bottom of the NIU order - Kelley, Seegers and Nelson - combined to go 7-for-13 at the plate in game one with four RBI and three runs scored. All nine Huskies in the lineup had a hit in the opener with eight of the nine scoring a run.
 
The Huskies struck first in the nightcap as a Summerhill double scored Demetral from first base to put NIU up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Junior pitcher Jacob Draeger (Johnston, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) held Akron to two hits in the first four innings with his catcher Summerhill throwing out a pair of would-be base-stealers. The Huskies extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out Seegers RBI single that made the score 2-0.
 
"Jacob did a great job in a spot start," Kunigonis said. "He gave us a chance to win and gave us what we needed which was a bunch of zeroes on the board."
 
Akron came alive in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs on a Bowman two-run home run and a two-run triple by Firestone to take a 4-2 lead. The Huskies got a run back in the bottom of the fifth. Erato led off with a walk and got to third on a Demetral walk and Summerhill single with one out. Peters drove in Erato on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-3. Zips relief pitcher Yassir Kahook got out of the inning by getting Thierry to fly out.
 
The Zips got a pair of two-run home runs from Andrew Horvath in the sixth and Nick Arrivo in the seventh to go ahead 8-3. NIU closed within four at 8-4 on a run-scoring fielder's choice off the bat of Nelson but that would be as close as the Huskies would get in game two.
 
Kahook got the win on the mound for Akron in the nightcap, allowing one run in 3.1 innings of relief. Thierry and Summerhill were both 2-for-4 at the plate in game two.
 
NIU is next in action on Wednesday, May 3 at Milwaukee. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT with the game broadcast on ESPN+.
 
--NIU--