Baseball | February 15

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team opens its 2024 season at Abilene Christian this weekend, with new direction under first-year head coach Ryan Copeland.
 
Copeland became the 26^th head coach in NIU baseball history this past summer after four successful seasons at University of Illinois-Springfield. Under his direction the Prairie Stars compiled a 131-38 record, two Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season titles, a GLVC tournament championship, three NCAA Division II regional appearances and one run to the NCAA D-II national tournament. This past season UIS went 36-15 and led Division II with 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings as well as team earned run average.
 
He inherits an experienced roster of 31 returnees, including 16 seniors.
 
"For me, I wanted to come in and make it clear I think we can win with the roster we have," Copeland said. "We were going to bring some guys over, and added some pieces here and there to fill in a roster that had a lot of older guys that have played together for a few years. Our players were pretty excited for a fresh start, a different type of philosophy."
 
Two of the pieces added this year will be in the starting pitching rotation this weekend in redshirt-sophomore Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and freshman Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville). Junior left-hander Tommy Meyer (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa East) will also start this weekend in Abilene. Meyer averaged a strikeout per inning last season in 16 appearances. Brouwer made 11 starts at UIS last season for Copeland, posting a record of 7-3 with one save. He struck out 69 batters in 61.2 innings with a 3.94 ERA. Brachbill was 8-1 in his senior season at Shelbyville High School and set the school's single-season and career records for strikeouts.
 
"Tommy was really successful starting in the Northwoods League this summer, he was awesome and an all-star," said Copeland. "He holds his velocity well and when he's at his best, he's as good as it gets in college baseball. We're trying to get him to be more consistent. We brought Brouwer and Brachbill over from Springfield. Brouwer is probably our best overall comination of pitch ability with stuff. He's pitched in big games in the postseason and is a competitor. Ty is only a true freshman but he has an electric arm and has a chance to be really special."
 
Juniors Mason Ruh (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS) and Matt Salomonson (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) bolster the NIU pitching staff. Ruh led the Huskies in innings pitched last season with 54.1 and was second on the team in strikeouts with 41. Salomonson struck out 28 batters in 37.1 innings a year ago.
 
In the field, NIU returns four of its top five hitters from 2023. Senior catcher Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) led the Huskies with a .308 batting average, a .585 slugging percentage, 11 home runs, 17 doubles and 54 runs batted in. He is the first NIU hitter since 2004 to have over 50 RBI in a season and was top-10 in the Mid-American Conference in doubles and RBI.
 
"Colin understands how to hit and has really good at-bats. He has great barrel awareness and knows the zone. I like to think he can make a big time jump this season if we can find a way to get him rolling early. We need Colin to be just as good as he was last year but our hope is he makes another jump and maintains the ability to hit for average and see those power numbers surge."
 
Third Baseman Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto CC) hit .307 in 2023 with 10 doubles, five home runs and 41 RBI, leading NIU with 62 hits. Harper had a hit in 18 of the last 19 games of the 2023 season, including each of the last 11. At the top of the lineup, Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) set an NIU single-season record with 51 walks last season. He also led the team with a .427 on-base percentage, 47 runs and 25 stolen bases which put him second in the MAC.
 
"Eric can be a guy to hits in the low-to-mid .300s. He's a really good baserunner and understands the game. He does a great job with his at-bats. Aaron has a knack for finding the barrel and does a good job of knowing himself and just going in and playing. It'd be nice to start stacking up .300 hitter after .300 hitter but, at the end of the day, we want to hit doubles and home runs. You still have to get on base and batting average still matters to me because I think it's more of a sign of being a complete hitter."
 
NIU also returns shortstop Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) and second baseman Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College). Demetral hit .276 in 2023 in 50 games, driving in 27 runs. Nelson played in 34 games in his first season in DeKalb, hitting .257. The outfield depth got a boost with the additions of transfers CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) from Missouri and JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) from Illinois State.
 
After a month of practices, the Huskies are primed to take the field and start the season. Copeland believes his team has what it takes for a successful 2024 season.
 
"We have plenty of talent in our squad. We're certainly not all the way there, but I think if we put our best nine out there with our three or four weekend starters, I think we can compete with anybody. We want to be an offense that's always dangerous and can score runs a bunch of different ways. We want to hit the ball all over the park. We want pitchers that throw hard and can strike guys out because the analytics tell us from every level that that's what wins baseball games now."
 
The Huskies and Wildcats begin their series on Friday, Feb. 16 with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. CT. The two teams will play a single game on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 3 p.m. with the series finale Sunday, Feb. 18 at 12 p.m.
 
--NIU--