OXFORD, Ala. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team started the weekend on the right foot, scoring 14 runs in the first three innings Friday afternoon and cruised to a 16-3 win over the Southeast Missouri State RedHawks at Choccolocco Park.
 
"With how hectic this week has been with long travel, we were ready to play and replicate our performance from last Sunday and carry some momentum and confidence over offensively," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We were outstanding in all three facets of the game today."
 
All nine starters in the NIU batting order had at least one hit and one run scored on Friday. Sophomore outfielder Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) was 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and three runs scored. Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) tied a career-high with five RBI. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) and Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Ill./Kaskaskia College) both had two-run home runs.
 
NIU (2-2) got off to a fast start, loading the bases on a Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) single, CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) reaching on a catcher's interference and a Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) single. Smart put the Huskies on the board with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, bringing home Parcell. Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) followed with a single to right field to score Cepicky and put NIU ahead 2-0. After a strikeout, Cohn launched his first home run of the year to give the Huskies a 5-0 lead.
 
Gregorio extended the NIU lead in the top of the second with his second hit of the game. With Parcell at second and Cepicky at first after a single, Gregorio ripped a single through the right side to drive in Parcell to give the Huskies a 6-0 lead. The Huskies offense exploded in the third, scoring eight runs on five hits while sending 11 batters to the plate. Smart highlighted the frame with a grand slam down the left field line as Baldwin hit a two-run home run over the left field fence to put the Huskies up 14-0.
 
"Against a really good program that has a ton of talent and expects to win, you're kind of always looking over your shoulder no matter how many runs you put up," Copeland said. "We just kept adding on and had that big punch with the eight-spot in the third."
 
As the Huskies were scoring runs, Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) was putting zeroes on the board on the mound. He got out of an early jam in the bottom of the first, stranding two runners who drew walks by getting Mikey Rocha to fly out to Parcell in centerfield. Brouwer left two more runners on base in the second before retiring the side in order in the bottom of the third. All told, Brouwer threw five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and four walks while striking out four RedHawks.
 
Loyd hit his first home run as a Huskie in the top of the sixth. After Cohn reached on a single for his third hit in the game, the junior shortstop hit a two-run home run over the right field fence to make the score 16-0.
 
"We were 9-for-20 with runners in scoring position and a lot of those came with two outs which are huge for any offense," said Copeland. "We were able to get some pitches to hit because we took some really good ones early and got into some hitter-friendly counts. When you want to beat a good team, you're going to have to hit some doubles and home runs and today was a pretty impressive performance by our offense. Coach [Joe] Kelch did a good job getting those guys ready to go."
 
SEMO (1-3) scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, sparked by RBI doubles from Jack Opoien and Shea McGahan. A Ramirez led the RedHawks with three hits including a double.
 
The two teams play the middle game of this weekend's series on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 4 p.m.
 
--NIU--