AKRON, Ohio - The Northern Illinois University baseball team got four RBI from freshman designated hitter Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) and a quality start from Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) in a 10-4 win over the Akron Zips in this weekend's series opener at Skeeles Field.

"We talked about setting the tone for the entire weekend starts on Friday and we did just that," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "Offensively we were really good when we were aggressive early. We got Akron's starter out of the game and they had to use a couple other pen arms that will hopefully help us down the road in the series."

NIU (6-12, 3-1 MAC) put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the top of the first. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) and Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) led off the game with back-to-back infield singles. After a strikeout, Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) drew a walk from Akron starting pitcher Dawson Tourney to load the bases. Cohn then drove home Erato and Demetral with a base hit to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. A fielder's choice off the bat of CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) gave NIU runners at the corners with two outs. The Huskies then pulled off a double steal, with Kelley taking home to give NIU a 3-0 lead.

With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the second inning, Kelley laced a single to bring home Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) to extend the NIU lead to 4-0. Cohn followed with his second two-run single of the game to make the score 6-0. The Zips had a chance to get on the board in the bottom half of the second. James Strom doubled to left center with one out off of Brachbill. The freshman then hit Fisher Pyatt and Nicky Sackett with pitches to load the bases with two outs. Brachbill got out of the inning when Evan Bottone flew out to Erato in left field.

NIU put another run on the board in the third. With runners at the corners and one out, Erato reached on a fielder's choice that allowed JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) to score the seventh Huskies run of the game.

Akron (3-13, 0-4 MAC) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. A Pyatt two run home run made the score 7-2. Brachbill struck out Sackett and Jack Poist to hold the Zips to two runs. After retiring the side in the fifth with two more strikeouts, Brachbill stranded two runners on base in the sixth. Akron put another run on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Poist led off with a double, getting to third on a Sam Seeker single with one out. A fielder's choice drove in Poist to get the Zips within four, 7-3. Jackson Stewart (Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) came in from the bullpen for Brachbill and struck out Strom to end the inning.

"We moved Ty into the Friday spot in the rotation because he's been our most consistent guy," Copeland said. "The eyes tell us that, the numbers tell us that. He survived some innings early where his stuff wasn't as sharp. He got better and better despite giving up a couple runs, he held his velocity well and he pitched into the seventh which is all you can ask from your Friday starter."

The Huskies put three insurance runs on the board in the top of the ninth when third baseman Christian Seegers (Schaumburg, Ill./Creighton) crushed a three-run home run over the left field fence to make the score 10-3. Akron put a run on the board in the bottom of the ninth, but Stewart got a strikeout and a groundout to wrap up the series-opening victory for NIU.

Brachbill threw a season-high 6.2 innings on Friday, allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. He earned his third win in his last four starts. At the plate, Cohn drove in a season-high four runs while going 2-for-4 with a walk. Demetral, Seegers and Nelson each had a pair of hits as well. Eight of the nine starters in the NIU batting order had a hit as the Huskies notched 12 hits and eight walks in the win.

"To get production one through nine is really, really good for us moving forward the rest of the series," said Copeland. "Cooper has been outstanding as our designated hitter as well as catching the middle game of the series. He's just going to keep getting better as he continues to get at-bats at the college level."

The two teams play the middle game of this weekend's Mid-American Conference series on Saturday, March 16 at 12:05 p.m. CT.

—NIU—