CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Senior catcher Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) hit two home runs Sunday afternoon to tie the Northern Illinois University baseball team's single-season home run record as the Illinois Fighting Illini completed a weekend sweep of the Huskies with a 21-11 win at Illinois Field in seven innings.

Summerhill has 15 home runs on the season, tying the single-season mark set by Mike Santoro in 2003. He hit six longballs in the Huskies' four games this week at Eastern Illinois and Illinois, driving in 13 runs while slugging 1.529.

"After his great start to the year, Colin was struggling early into MAC play," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "He was a little bit better last weekend and it rolled into the midweek win at Eastern Illinois and this entire weekend. He got back to controlling the strike zone and he just didn't miss the barrel. We did some things differently in practice and we was very responsive to that and saw some of the benefits this weekend."

NIU (11-24) batted around in the top of the first inning. Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) led off with an infield single with Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) following with a walk. Summerhill put the Huskies on the board with his first home run of the day, a three-run blast to straight-away centerfield. Illinois starting pitcher Jake Swartz struck out the next two batters but hit Parker Shupe (Johnston, Iowa/Kirkwood CC) to keep the inning alive. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) made the score 5-0 with a two-run home run over the left centerfield wall, his first home run since March 8. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) went back-to-back with Kelley as his third home run of the year put NIU up 6-0.

Illinois (20-13) cut the Huskies' lead in half in the bottom of the first as a Cal Hejza RBI single and a two-run home run by Drake Westcott made the score 6-3. NIU put its advantage back up to five in the top of the second inning. With two runners on base and one out, CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) ripped a double down the left field line to clear the bases and put the Huskies up 8-3. The Fighting Illini responded in the bottom of the inning with five runs, four coming on home runs from Hejza and Westcott, to tie the game at 8-8.

The Huskies broke the tie in the top of the fourth as Erato scored from third on a wild pitch with two outs to give NIU a 9-8 lead. Illinois came back with two-run home runs from Westcott, his third of the day, and Jacob Schroeder to take a 12-9 lead. The Illini put the game out of reach in the fifth, scoring seven runs to go up 19-9. Illinois led 21-9 going into the seventh inning. Summerhill hit his second home run of the game with one out to make the score 21-10. Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) also went yard in the top of the seventh but the Huskies could not find another run to keep the game alive as Illinois took the series finale 21-11.

"I thought we swung the bats pretty well despite a lousy weekend," Copeland said. "Illinois' hitters were just too comfortable in the box. We couldn't find a way to keep the ball in the ballpark. We had the lead but didn't do enough today to neutralize the opponent."

Summerhill was 2-for-4 in the game with a walk and four RBI. Erato also had two hits and scored three runs. Nelson extended his current hitting streak to eight games.

NIU opens a five-game homestand at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park on Wednesday, April 17 against St. Thomas. First pitch is at 1 p.m.

—NIU—