ABILENE, Texas - The Northern Illinois University baseball team was swept in a doubleheader against the Abilene Christian Wildcats at Crutcher Scott Field on Friday, dropping the opener 16-6 in seven innings and game two 12-2 in eight innings.

"I was anxious to see us play," said head coach Ryan Copeland after his first two games leading the Huskies. "You never really know about your team until there's another team out there on the field trying to beat you. We're going to have to find a way to make sure we can stay in the game longer. As a staff, we're going to keep learning about this group and put them in the best position possible."

Abilene Christian (2-0) led the opener 3-0 after three innings, scoring two runs in the third on a DJ Van Atten home run. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) put NIU on the board in the top of the fourth, launching a home run over the right centerfield wall to make the score 3-1. Abilene Christian tacked on two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to go ahead 6-1. The Huskies scored twice in the top of the fifth. Freshman Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) led off with a double and reached third on a groundout. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) drove him home on a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-2. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) drew a walk with two outs, then scored all the way from first on a Kelley double that got NIU within three, 6-3.

The Wildcats broke the game open in the bottom half of the fifth, taking advantage of a one-out error to scoring seven runs and take a 13-3 lead. The Huskies scored three times in the sixth on a two-run Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) double and a Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) RBI single. The Wildcats got those runs back in the bottom of the seventh to take the opener 16-6.

Kosobucki and Kelley each had two hits in game one for NIU. Ryan Linkletter (McHenry, Ill./Iowa Central CC) allowed one run on three hits in 1.1 innings of relief in his first appearance on the mound as a Huskie. Abilene Christian starting pitcher Austin Glaze earned the win, allowing one run on three hits in five innings with seven strikeouts.

"I thought we competed well in the box in game one and swung the bats well," Copeland said. "We fought to stay in the game but in the later innings we allowed it to get away from us. We've got to pitch better, so we're going to mix and match and find the right type of guys to get key outs."

NIU (0-2) took an early lead in the nightcap. Summerhill sent an Iain Campa pitch over the right center wall to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Abilene Christian tied the game in the bottom of the first on a leadoff home run by Garrett Williams. The Wildcats took the lead in the second. With the bases loaded and one out, Aaron Staehely hit a fly ball to centerfield which drove in Maddox Miesse and put Abilene Christian up 2-1.

Abilene Christian (2-0) put three runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth, two on a Miller Ladusau single, to take a 5-1 lead. Ladusau drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth to put the score at 6-1. The Huskies made the score 6-2 in the top of the seventh on a Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) double that drove in Spencer Bartel (Sun Prairie, Wis./Madison College). The Wildcats responded with a Gino D'Alessio home run in the bottom of the seventh and five runs in the eighth to win 12-2.

Summerhill had two hits in game two. Tommy Meyer (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa East) started on the mound and allowed five runs on four hits in 3.2 innings, walking four and striking out five. D'Allessio was 3-for-5 for the Wildcats with two RBI.

The two teams meet on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.

—NIU—