MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team was shut out for the first time this season on Sunday afternoon as the Central Michigan Chippewas won the final game of this weekend's series 2-0 at Theunissen Stadium.
 
"Today was a game that we just had to find a way to win," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We locked up the series yesterday but you always try to get that last one. We've been able to bounce back a lot this season but we ran into a pitcher who had good stuff today."
 
Central Michigan (15-29, 6-15 MAC) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Marquis Jackson drew a walk off of NIU starting pitcher Dominic Hann (Washington, Mich./Michigan State) with one out. Hann got Drew Loikits to line out to Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) for the second out of the inning. Ely Stuart drove in Jackson with a double to right field, putting the Chippewas up 1-0. Danny Wuestenfeld followed with a single through the right side of the infield to bring home Stuart and make the score 2-0. Hann struck out Elijah Henning to get out of the inning.
 
NIU (15-28, 9-12 MAC) had just one hit off of CMU starting pitcher Keegan Batka through the first four innings. The Huskies had an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the fifth. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) led off with a base hit to right field. Batka struck out the next two batters before walking Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College). The Huskies left the two runners on base as Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) flew out to end the inning.
 
Parcell got his second hit of the day in the seventh, ringing a double to left center with one out. As he had in every inning up until then, Blatka held NIU scoreless with a popout and a strikeout to end the inning. CMU had a chance to extend its lead in the bottom of the inning. With a runner at third and one out, NIU relief pitcher Reagan Klawiter (Verona, Wis./Madison College) got Drew Loikits to hit a ground ball to Demetral at shortstop. Demetral threw home for Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) to tag out Jacob Donahue and keep the game 2-0. The Huskies did get the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth after CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) was hit by a pitch with two outs. Blatka got Parcell to fly out to end the ballgame and wrap up his shutout.
 
"He had a good fastball and really overpowered us early on pretty electric stuff," Copeland said of the Chippewas' starter. "As he started to wear down we needed to be better. We just were not right offensively."
Blatka struck out 14 batters on Sunday, allowing just three hits and two walks. The NIU bullpen combined for five shutout innings in relief of Hann. Parcell had two of the three hits for the Huskies on the day.
 
NIU heads to Milwaukee on Wednesday, May 1 for a 3 p.m. game at Franklin Field.
 
--NIU--