OXFORD, Ohio - Junior first baseman Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) of the Northern Illinois University baseball team hit three home runs Sunday afternoon against the Miami RedHawks at McKie Field, but the Huskies could not keep pace with Miami's offense in an 18-8 loss in seven innings.

Baldwin became the first Huskie since Rob Marconi on April 18, 2004 to have a three home run game. He was 3-for-4 and tied a season-high with five runs batted in. His first three at-bats Sunday all resulted in home runs. The last NIU batter to have home runs in consecutive at-bats was Brandon Mallder back on May 3, 2014 at Kent State.

"It was an impressive individual performance," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "He's been good all year and the strike zone discipline has been so much better lately. Gavin's a physical guy that can hit the ball a long way and he tried his best to give us a boost today and unfortunately it wasn't enough."

Miami (10-9, 5-1 MAC) got on the board first when Dillon Baker led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run. Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) then retired the side, getting back-to-back strikeouts of Anthony Zarlingo and David Novak. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) quickly tied the game in the top of the second, leading off with his fifth home run of the year, an inside-the-park homer off the right centerfield wall, to make the score 1-1. The RedHawks broke the tie with eight runs in the bottom of the second, capped by Evan Applewick's three-run home run that put Miami ahead 9-1.

NIU (7-10, 1-5 MAC) rallied back into the game in the top of the third. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) hit a double with one out, followed by a Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) walk. Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) the ripped a single through the left side to score Parcell and make the score 9-2.  Baldwin then launched a three-run home run over the left field wall to get the Huskies within four at 9-5.

The RedHawks scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning and another run in the fourth to take a 14-5 lead. Baldwin hit his third home run of the game in the top of the fifth, hitting a solo home run to left center with two outs to make the score 14-6. Kosobucki put two more runs on the board in the sixth with a two-run single to get NIU within six at 14-8. Miami scored the final four runs of the game, closing it out in the seventh with a Ryan Novak three-run home run.

"This weekend was a disappointing end to our season-opening road trip," Copeland said. "Being on the road for a prolonged period of time is just part of being a northern college baseball program. There are no excuses for this series. We've played good baseball for a good part of this season and we're excited to get back to it next weekend for our first home series."

After 17 consecutive games on the road to start the 2025 season, NIU will play its first home games of the year at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park March 21-23 against Central Michigan. The series begins Friday, March 21 at 3 p.m. CT.

—NIU—