DeKALB, IL – A four-run eighth inning by the Akron Zips broke a 2-2 tie on Saturday afternoon as the Zips defeated the Northern Illinois University baseball team 7-3 to take this weekend's series at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
 
NIU (14-24, 4-14 MAC) got on the board first in the third inning. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) reached on a one-out single to centerfield and got to second on a Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) groundout. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) then stepped up to the plate and crushed a towering, two-run home run over the left field wall to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
 
Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) allowed four hits in the first three innings but kept the Zips off the scoreboard. He escaped the second inning with Akron having runners at the corners and two outs by getting Kyle McConachie to ground out to Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) at second base. He retired the side in order in the fourth.
 
"Max really settled in after putting up those first couple zeroes," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "He's good enough to be a really good starting pitcher at this level. We saw it early this year. He's been through some struggles, but he's a tough kid and I'm really happy he threw the ball extremely well today."
 
Akron (12-26, 6-15 MAC) got a leadoff single from Austin Lafferty to start the fifth inning. Vaisvila then got Charlie Schebler to fly out to Parcell in centerfield and McConachie to pop out to the. NIU shortstop Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College). After a wild pitch advanced Lafferty to second, Evan Bottone hit a double that drove him in and made the score 2-1. Max Bowman then hit a single to right center to drive in Bottone and tie the game 2-2.
 
The Huskies had a chance to break the tie in the sixth. JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) and Couchman drew back-to-back walks with one out to start the threat. Jack Kelley then struck out Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) for the second out. Loyd drew a walk to load the bases for Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere). Kelley got Kosobucki to fly out to end the inning.
 
"We let an opportunity get away from us there, and it's more frustrating when it feels like they're giving it to you," Copeland said. "We had so many opportunities to get a big hit, not just today but the series and the whole year. There are usually two to three moments a game, on each side, where a game can be decided. We had our chance and didn't get it."
 
The Zips took the lead in the top of the eighth. NIU reliever Zach Hise (Joliet, Ill./Kentucky) hit the lead-off man Bowman with a pitch, followed by a bunt single from Caden Matlon. Jack Poist then pushed a bunt down the third base line to Cohn who charged the ball but threw it away from first base, allowing Bowman to score to put Akron up 3-2. Andrew Horvath then drew a walk with a passed ball on ball four bringing in Matlon to give the Zips a 4-2 lead. An Ian Pennington squeeze bunt drove in another run with a Lafferty double bringing home the fourth run of the inning and putting the score at 6-2.
 
The Huskies trailed 7-2 going into the ninth. NIU loaded the bases with one out on a Kosobucki single, an Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) walk and a Parcell walk. Gregorio laced a single to right field to score Kosobucki and make the score 7-3. However, the rally ended there as Akron reliever Johnny Anservitz got a pair of strikeouts to end the game.
 
Vaisvila allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings on Sunday, tying his longest outing of the season. He walked one Akron batter while striking out five. Parcell was 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot with a walk. Baldwin's home run was his 12^th of the season.
 
NIU goes on the road for a pair of midweek games next week, starting on Tuesday, April 22 at Valparaiso with a 3 p.m. first pitch.
 
--NIU--