THIBODAUX, La. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team led the Nicholls Colonels 3-0 going into the bottom of the eighth of the 2025 season opener at Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field Friday night, but the hosts rallied for five runs in the inning to win 5-3.

"We played really good baseball for the entirety of the game until that eighth inning," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We did enough offensively to find a way to scratch out some runs, we played excellent defense and unfortunately we got to the bullpen and they didn't execute. It's a tough loss. We probably deserved to win, but at the end of the day one inning can do you in and it happened to us tonight."

NIU (0-1) starting pitcher Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) retired the first seven Colonels he faced with two strikeouts before Tyler Johnson got the first hit of the ball game for Nicholls in the bottom of the third. Christian Westcott followed with an infield single to give the Colonels two men on with one out. Brouwer got out of the inning unscathed, getting a flyout and a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.

The Huskies put the first run on the board in the top of the fifth. CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) led off with a single, advancing to third on a Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) base hit up the middle. Ryan Birr (Brownsburg, Ind./SIU) drove home Cepicky with a groundout to first base to put NIU ahead 1-0. Brouwer did his part in the bottom of the fifth to keep the Huskies in the lead, working around a one-out single to Johnson to hold the Colonels scoreless.

"We had good at-bats and their starter did a pretty good job," Copeland said. "We made him compete and work quite a bit early, had some long at-bats even if the result didn't go our way it put us in a position to get to their bullpen."

NIU put two insurance runs on the board in the top of the seventh. Cepicky led off with a single to centerfield. Loyd then put down a sacrifice bunt to move Cepicky to second base. After a flyout, Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) reached first on an infield single that advanced Cepicky to third with two outs. A balk by Nicholls reliever Nick Evans scored Cepicky to give NIU a 2-0 lead. Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) then reached second base on a throwing error by Biediger, allowing Parcell to score from second to make the score 3-0.

Nicholls (1-0) got on the board in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and two outs, AJ Cappell hit a single to left field to drive in Narvin Booker. An error by JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) allowed Casey Jans to score and put the Colonels within one, 3-2. Johnson then drew a walk to load the bases again. NIU relief pitcher Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) then entered the game and hit pinch-hitter Logan Mallard to bring in the tying run. Karson Irvin then drove in two runs with a single to centerfield to put Nicholls ahead 5-3.

The Huskies had a chance to tie the game in the ninth. Nicholls reliever Harper Jordan retired the first two NIU batters he faced, but he walked Kosobucki to keep the game alive. Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) then knocked a base hit to left field, his first as a Huskie, to represent the tying run. Jordan closed the door with a strikeout to lock up the win for the Colonels.

Parcell and Cepicky each had two hits for NIU as the Huskies had seven as a team. Irvin was 2-for-4 with two RBI for Nicholls. Brouwer took a no-decision on the mound for the Huskies, throwing six shutout innings on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

"Adam pitched his tail off," said Copeland. "He was as good as it gets and that's what we've come to expect from him. He gave us a great chance to win the game. Our bullpen is expected to be able to come in and shut the door but it got away from us. Early in the season we're going to have to try to move some guys around the field and try to see what meshes. The same goes for our bullpen, finding out who can pitch in those high leverage situations and gives us a chance to win."

The Huskies and Colonels play the middle game of this weekend's three-game series on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. CT.

—NIU—