(Link To Game One Box Score)
(Link To Game Two Box Score)
 
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team split a doubleheader against the Akron Zips on Friday at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. The Huskies won the opener 5-4 in 10 innings as the Zips took the nightcap 12-2 in eight innings.
 
"We found a way to win game one, which we had in control but lost the lead," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "Cooper [Cohn] and Will [Couchman] picked us up to get that one. You'd like to think you can carry that momentum into game two and play better baseball. We got, overall, two really good starts from Ty Brachbill and Carter Cox. Game two got away from us late. Even though we split, we were not very good at the plate today."
 
Akron (11-26, 5-15 MAC) opened the scoring in game one in the third inning. After two flyouts to start the frame, Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) hit Kyle McConachie with a pitch. Evan Bottone then hit a single to centerfield that got by Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West), allowing McConachie to score all the way from first to give the Zips a 1-0 lead.
 
NIU (14-23, 4-13 MAC) responded in the bottom half of the third. With two outs and Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) at second base, JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) hit a home run over the left field fence to put the Huskies up 2-1. Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) followed with a home run of his own over the left field wall to make the score 3-1.
 
Brachbill kept the Huskies in front by throwing four consecutive shutout innings from the fourth to the seventh. The sophomore made a highlight reel play in the top of the fourth, racing into foul ground to make a diving catch on a popped-up bunt. The Zips loaded the bases on singles from Botone, Caden Matlon and Jack Poist with one out in the eighth, which chased Brachbill from the game. Andrew Horvath drove in a run with a single off of Mason Ruh (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS) to make the score 3-2. After a strikeout for the second out, Ian Pennington was hit by a pitch that scored Matlon and tied the game 3-3. Charlie Schebler then drew a walk to give Akron a 4-3 lead.
 
The Huskies tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Gauthier reached on an infield single with one out followed by a Couchman walk. Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) then laced his third base hit of the game to left field, bringing home Gauthier to tie the game 4-4. Neither team scored in the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
 
John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) threw a scoreless ninth, stranding a runner at second base. He did the same in the 10^th, striking out Schebler with a runner at second. With one out in the bottom of the 10^th, Couchman won the game for NIU with a walk-off home run over the right field wall to give the Huskies the 5-4 victory.
 
"Couch was outstanding in game one," said Copeland. "It felt like it was going to be a tough day to hit but he found a way to add on in the third. We've let some of these extra-inning games get away from us at home, so for him to step up and find a way to win the game himself – sometimes that's what it takes in extras. We've been really happy with his production offensively lately."
 
Couchman as 2-for-4 with two home runs in the opener. Cohn was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Lyman earned his first win as a Huskie in relief, throwing two scoreless innings. Brachbill went 7.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
 
NIU got on the board first in game two. With runners at second and third and two out, Gauthier dunked a single to right field to bring in CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) and give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Couchman then hit a single to center to score Gregorio and make the score 2-0.
 
Freshman Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) threw three scoreless innings to start the game on the mound for the Huskies. He stranded two runners on base in the first before retiring the side in the second and third innings. The Zips got on the board in the fourth on a Pennington squeeze bunt that scored Poist to make the score 2-1. In the fifth a Bottone sacrifice fly tied the game 2-2. Cox went five innings in the nightcap, allowing tw runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
 
"Carter has been nails all year," said Copeland about the freshman left-hander in his first start of the year. "The numbers might not show it, but he's pitched in some big spots as a freshman. We felt confident in his ability to throw strikes. Akron has a lot of left-handed batters in their lineup and we thought it was a good matchup for him."
 
Akron took the lead in the sixth inning. A Poist double drove in Matlon to give the Zips a 3-2 lead. Another Pennington squeeze bunt brought in Poist later in the inning to make the score 4-2. Akron broke the game open in the seventh, scoring seven runs to take an 11-2 lead. The Zips tacked on another run in the eighth to win the nightcap 12-2.
 
Gregorio was 2-for-3 at the plate for NIU in game two with a walk. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) also had two hits. Pennington had three RBI for the Zips as Matlon went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Dawson Tourney earned the win on the mound for Akron, allowing two runs on six hits over five innings with seven strikeouts.
 
The two teams wrap up this weekend's series on Saturday, April 19 at 1 p.m.
 
--NIU--