CHARLESTON, IL – Led by two home runs and a career-high six runs batted in from senior Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy), the Northern Illinois University baseball team won 14-12 over the Eastern Illinois Panthers Tuesday afternoon at Coaches Stadium.
 
Summerhill was 3-for-6 at the plate on the day. He now has 11 home runs on the year and is the fastest Huskie to reach double-digit home runs in a season since Rob Marconi hit his 10th home run of the 2004 season on April 18th of that year.
 
"Our offense was outstanding today and gave us a big lead and some room to work with," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "Colin was a huge part of that. As he goes, so does our offense and today was a great sign moving forward. He was on the barrel much more in the Bowling Green series and today he had something to show for that as well."
 
NIU (11-21) put two runs on the board in the top of the first inning. Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) led off with a single to left field. Two batters later, CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri/Missouri) crushed a two-run home run over the left field fence to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. The Panthers got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a Cole Gober solo home run that made the score 2-1.
 
The Huskies extended their lead in the second. Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) led off with a single. After a popout, Nick Varon (Palatine, Ill./Southwestern Illinois College) singled to left center to get Cohn to third. After a wild pitch advanced Varon to second base, Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) looped a single to right field to clear the bases and put NIU up 4-1. Lukas Touma entered the game from the Eastern Illinois bullpen and walked Nelson and Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) to load the bases. Summerhill launched a grand slam over the left centerfield wall to put the Huskies ahead 8-1.
 
NIU pitching kept Eastern Illinois in check to stay in front. Jacob Draeger (Johnston, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) allowed just one run on one hit with two strikeouts in his two innings of work. DJ Hess (Germantown, Wis./College of Lake County) entered the game in the third and retired the side in order, then worked around a leadoff single to Lucas Loos in the fourth to put another zero on the scoreboard. JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) extended the NIU lead in the fifth with his two-out RBI single that made the score 9-1.
 
"Jacob and DJ pounded the zone and used the breaking ball for strikes to keep those guys off balance," Copeland said. "Eastern Illinois can swing it a little bit and those two allowed us to settle into the game. For those guys to come out and protect the big lead early was huge for us."
 
Eastern Illinois (9-19) put two runs on the board in the sixth and another in the seventh on a Gober lead-off home run to get within five runs at 9-4. NIU responded with five runs in the top of the eighth highlighted by a two-run home run by Summerhill, his second of the day, to take a 14-4 lead.
 
The Panthers made one last run late in the game. Eastern Illinois scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run Dylan Drumke double. In the ninth, the Panthers scored six runs to get within two runs. A two-run Gober single with two outs made the score 14-9. Loos followed with a three-run home run to put the score at 14-12. That was where the rally ended as Jake Kohanzo (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) got Mike O'Conor to pop out to Demetral to end the game.
 
Nelson and Erato each had two hits at the top of the NIU lineup Wednesday. Eight of the nine Huskie starters had a hit as the Huskies collected 12 on the day with eight walks.
 
NIU opens a three-game series at Illinois on Friday, April 12 at 6 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--