BATON ROUGE, La. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team wrapped up its weekend at LSU Saturday afternoon hanging with the defending national champion Tigers for much of the game at Alex Box Stadium, but ultimately was on the short end of a 5-2 score.
 
"Today we felt like we belonged on that field," said head coach Ryan Copeland after NIU's second matchup against the second-ranked college baseball team in the country. "I don't think we were overmatched or let the environment get to us. We were right there every step of the way. At the end of the day, we're here to win. We can be proud of the effort today, but I hope it bothers them a bit that it feels like we could have won today."
 
NIU (2-6) gave the ball to junior right-hander Jackson Stewart (Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) for his first career start Saturday. Stewart worked around a one-out error to put a zero on the board, striking out Tommy White and Brady Neal. The Huskies got their first hit of the day on a lead-off single from Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) in the top of the second. LSU starter Ryan Holman then got a double play ball and a strikeout to end the inning.
 
LSU (6-1) got on the board in the bottom of the second. The Tigers loaded the bases with one out as Stewart walked Hayden Travinski and Jared Jones and hit Steven Milam with a pitch. A Mac Bingham groundout brought in Travinski to make the score 1-0. Two more walks brought Jones in and put the Tigers up 2-0. After Stewart retired the side in the third, LSU put three runs on the board in the fourth. With one out, Stewart walked Milam then allowed a two-run home run off the bat of Bingham, the Tigers' first hit of the game, to put LSU up 4-0. Paxton Kling drew a free pass, stole second, and scored on a Pearson single to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead.
 
"Jackson competed extremely well today against a really good offense," Copeland said. "In reality he just gave up the two-run home run and the base hit to right field and that was it. He did a really good job changing speeds and working both sides of the plate. Coach [Calvin] Peacock had an outstanding game plan for him. We just gave up too many free passes."
 
Jacob Draeger (Johnston, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC), Ryan Linkletter (McHenry, Ill./Iowa Central CC), Reagan Klawiter (Verona, Wis./Madison College) and Conner Lutes (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) combined to throw three innings of scoreless baseball out of the bullpen, allowing just one hit.
 
The Huskies put their two runs on the board in the top of the ninth. Eric Erato drew a walk with one out, then scored on a Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) double to centerfield. It was Summerhill's eighth run batted in of the weekend. Kelley followed with a double of his own to bring in Summerhill and make the score 5-2. Gavin Guidry then entered the game from the LSU bullpen and recorded the final two outs of the game.
 
NIU is back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at Iowa. First pitch is at 4 p.m.
 
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