BATON ROUGE, La. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored 14 runs on 17 hits Friday night in a 14-4 seven-inning win over the Northwestern State Demons at Alex Box Stadium.
Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton),
Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) and
Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto CC) each had three hits in the game.
Spencer Bartel (Sun Prairie, Wis./Madison College) was 1-for-2 and drove in a career-high four runs.
Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI, giving him seven runs batted in over his last two games.
NIU (2-5) sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of first.
Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and Erato led off the game with back-to-back singles. Summerhill drove in Parcell with a base hit to centerfield, bringing home Parcell to make the score 1-0. Kelley then reached on an error that allowed Erato to score the game's second run. After a Harper single loaded the bases,
Christian Seegers (Schaumburg, Ill./Creighton) hit a sacrifice fly to right field that drove in Summerhill to make the score 3-0. Bartel followed with a two-run single through the right side of the infield to give NIU a 5-0 lead.
Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) and
Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Parcell cracked his second hit of the inning with a two-run single to make the score 7-0. Northwestern State got out of the inning with a pair of flyouts. NIU starting pitcher
Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) stranded a runner at third in the top of the first, then struck out a pair of Demons in the second inning. The Huskies extended their lead in the bottom of the second when a Bartel sacrifice fly made the score 8-0.
"It was nice to come out and be able to play with the lead," said head coach
Ryan Copeland. "I really like our offense when we're aggressive. When we're swinging like we did one through nine tonight, having good at-bats, taking our walks, finding ways to get on base, we have a chance to be pretty good offensively."
NIU put another crooked number on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. With runners at first and second with one out, Summerhill cleared the bases with a two-run double to put NIU up 10-0. Kelley followed with a double of his own, scoring Summerhill to make the score 11-0. After a flyout, Seegers hit a single through the left side to give the Huskies' runners at the corners with two outs. Bartel then drew a walk, with a wild pitch on ball four allowing Kelley to score and give NIU a 12-0 lead.
As the Huskies were scoring, Brachbill was cruising through the Northwestern State (2-4) lineup. The freshman right-hander kept the Demons scoreless going into the sixth, allowing four hits while striking out six. The Demons finally got on the board in the top of the sixth. Braden Benton and Colin Rains drew back-to-back walks leading off the inning. Brachbill bounced back with two strikeouts, but a Hayden Knotts triple cleared the bases and made the score 13-2.
Matt Salomonson (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) came in from the bullpen to get the final out of the sixth. Brachbill finished the night going 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with five walks and eight strikeouts for his first collegiate win.
"Ty is just going to keep getting better and better every time he goes out there," Copeland said. "He's got great stuff. He held his velocity really well and was able to land his breaking ball most of the night. He did a great job of being in the zone enough and executed our game plan extremely well."
The Huskies wrap up their weekend in Baton Rouge, La. on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. against #2 LSU.
--NIU--
