ABILENE, Texas – The Northern Illinois University baseball team's patience at the plate yielded a giant dividend Sunday afternoon as the Huskies drew 10 walks and cracked 10 hits to defeat the Abilene Christian Wildcats 14-7 at Crutcher Scott Field for head coach Ryan Copeland's first win at the helm of the program.
"For our guys to battle back after three tough games, I'm very proud of their toughness," said head coach Ryan Copeland after NIU's first win of the season. "Toughness is something we talk a lot about in our program and that's the epitome of it, to get a win on get-away day and enjoy it on the way home. Abilene Christian is a good team and they're going to win a lot of games this year, so it's a good first step in a really tough non-conference schedule."
NIU (1-3) got off to a fast start Sunday. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) hit back-to-back singles to lead off the game. Abilene Christian starting pitcher Ben Garcia then walked Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) to load the bases. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) drove in Parcell with a sacrifice fly to left field, putting the Huskies up 1-0. After a strikeout for the second out, a passed ball advanced Kosobucki and Summerhill to third base and second base respectively. A wild pitch from Garcia allowed Kosobucki to score and give NIU a 2-0 lead.
Abilene Christian (3-1) got one run back in the bottom of the first. With one out and the bases loaded, Maddox Miesse hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Garrett Williams and make the score 2-1. Jacob Wilde (Waukesha, Wis./Madison College) got out of the inning by striking out Aaron Staehely. He struck out two more batters in a 1-2-3 bottom of the second.
"Jacob did a great job of just allowing the one run in the first," Copeland said. "He was real dialed in today and he gave us an outstanding start. I'm really happy for him and proud of the way he competed today."
Summerhill extended the Huskies' lead in the top of the third with a solo home run over the left field fence to put NIU up 3-1. Wilde kept dealing in the bottom of the third with two more strikeouts, giving him five in the game.
The Huskies broke the game wide open in the top of the fourth. NIU loaded the bases with one out on a Christian Seegers (Schaumburg, Ill./Creighton) base hit and walks by Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) and Parcell. Kosobucki and Summerhill both drew free passes to make the score 5-1. Erato then delivered a two-run single to right field to give NIU a 7-1 advantage. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) cleared the bases with a two-run double that put the Huskies up 9-1.
NIU wasn't done yet. Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) drew a walk. Spencer Bartel (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) struck out for the second out, with the ball getting away and allowing Kelley to score the seventh run of the inning. Seegers recorded his second hit of the fourth with his first home run of the year, a two-run shot to left field that put the score at 12-1. After Demetral's second walk, Parcell laced a double to right center to bring the NIU shortstop home and make the score 13-1. All told, NIU scored 10 runs in the fourth on five hits and seven walks.
"We were finally able to have some really good at-bats all the way through lineup," said Copeland. "Once we got some traffic on the bases we got the big hit. We talked to our guys about being aggressive early in the count because Abilene Christian does a really good job of throwing strikes. That was the game plan and we executed."
The Wildcats put four runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth punctuated by a two-run home run off the bat of Gino D'Alessio. Parcell led off the seventh with his first career home run, his third hit of the game, to make the score 14-5. Abilene Christian scored twice in the ninth but could not make the comeback as NIU secured its first win of the 2024 season.
Parcell finished the game 3-for-5 at the plate with two runs batted in and a triple away from the cycle. Erato was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Kelley and Seegers both drove in a pair of runs as well. On the mound, Wilde allowed two runs on two hits in 4.1 innings with one walk and a career-high seven strikeouts. Jacob Draeger (Johnston, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) threw two scoreless innings of relief.
The Huskies head to Baton Rouge, La. Feb. 22-24 for two games against #4 LSU and two against Northwestern State. NIU will take on LSU on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. against Northwestern State. The Huskies and Northwestern State will meet again on Friday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. NIU closes the weekend with another matchup against LSU on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m.
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