THIBODAUX, La. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team hit four home runs and scored 12 runs in the eighth inning alone in a 21-2 rout of the Nicholls Colonels Sunday at Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field. 

"We challenged our guys after yesterday's loss and we really responded in a good way," said head coach Ryan Copeland after NIU's first win of the 2025 season. "It was good to see it all come together. The defense was really good, Max [Vaisvila] gave us a really good start and obviously if you're scoring 21 runs in a Division I baseball game you're doing something right." 

The 21 runs are the most by NIU against a Division I opponent since a 20-4 win at Bowling Green on April 29, 2016. Sunday's game also marked the first time the Huskies scored 10 runs in an inning since putting 10 on the board in the fourth inning of a 14-7 win at Abilene Christian on Feb. 18, 2024.  

The Huskies hit four home runs in the game. Senior Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) was 2-for-3 with five RBI including a grand slam. He also drew three walks. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) also had two hits with a home run.  

Freshman Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) got his first two career hits as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, hitting a grand slam for his first career hit and adding a two-run single later in the inning. The Huskies sent 17 batters to the plate in the eighth inning, drawing eight walks with five hits.  

"We had really good at-bats all day today and got rewarded for it," Copeland said. "We drew 16 walks and got into their bullpen. The home runs we got, with two of them being grand slams, were difference-making at-bats for us." 

NIU (1-2) put a crooked number on the board in the top of the first. Parcell led off by reaching on an error. A failed pickoff by Nicholls starting pitcher Dalton Hill got Parcell to second, with a wild pitch getting him to third. After a strikeout, NIU loaded the bases on back-to-back walks to Gregorio and Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC). With two outs Baldwin crushed NIU's first home run of the season, a grand slam over the centerfield fence that put the Huskies up 4-0. 

Parcell extended the lead to 5-0 in the second inning on a solo home run over the right field wall, his first of the season. Starting pitcher Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) struck out two Colonels in the first but got into a jam in the second. Logan Mock led off with a single with AJ Cappell also knocking a base hit with one out. Vaisvila then hit Narvin Booker with a pitch to load the bases. He struck out Jantzen Anderson for the second out then got a fielder's choice to quell the threat.  

Vaisvila allowed just two hits over the next three innings, recording three more strikeouts to keep NIU ahead 5-0 going into the sixth. Ryan Birr (Brownsburg, Ind./SIU) with a walk, getting to second base on a one-out base hit from CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri). Gregorio then launched his first home run as a Huskie, a three-run shot to right field to make the score 8-0. Smart followed with an infield single as a Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) walk chased Colonels reliever Nuno Panache from the ballgame. With two outs in the inning, JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) reached on an error that allowed Smart to score NIU's ninth run of the game. 

Nicholls (2-1) threatened to get on the board in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with two outs on a Tyler Johnson double, a Cappell single, and Booker being hit by a pitch. Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) entered the game from the bullpen for NIU and got Anderson to ground out to Baldwin at first to keep the Colonels scoreless.  

Vaisvila earned his first win at NIU, throwing 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball. The junior left-hander scattered seven hits while striking out seven with no walks.  

"Max has been one of our better arms since the fall," said Copeland. "He was really good today and commanded three pitches for strikes. He had a little jump in his fastball and that was good to see." 

NIU heads to Cape Girardeau, Mo. next weekend for a four-game series against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks. The series begins on Friday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. 

--NIU--