DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday afternoon to rally for a 4-2 win over the Toledo Rockets at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
NIU (20-29, 8-17 MAC) trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) led off with a double down the left field line. After a strikeout, a wild pitch from Toledo reliever Logan Jones advanced Parcell to third base. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) flew out for the second out. JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) put the Huskies on the board with a single to right field, scoring Parcell to make the score 2-1. Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) followed with a single to right as well with Gauthier getting to third base. With pinch-hitter Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) at the plate, Jones' second wild pitch of the inning scored Gauthier and tied the game at two. Smart then laced a single up the middle to drive in Couchman from second base and put NIU up 3-2.
"It was great to have the coaches trust in me in that spot to go get the big hit when we needed it," said Smart. "It was a great team win. We always had confidence we would come back and win it."
Jalen House (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) came in as a pinch-runner for Smart and stole second base. Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) extended the Huskies' lead with a third consecutive hit, driving in House from second to make the score 4-2. Freshman Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) entered the game from the bullpen in the ninth and shut down the Rockets. Cox struck out Brayden White and Cole Cahill for the first two outs of the inning. Tre Mariano hit a deep fly ball to right center but Parcell tracked it down to finish off the 4-2 comeback win.
"The score doesn't really show how many opportunities each team had to score today," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "Toledo left the bases loaded a couple times today, we did once. We did a pretty good job early on their starter Jacob Tabor. He throws three pitches for strikes and he got settled in there. We got on the barrel there in the eighth starting with Charlie's double. Once we took the lead we put in Carter to get the save because, with our backs against the wall, we need to do whatever we can to win games."
Toledo (23-27, 12-13 MAC) and NIU were locked in a pitcher's duel early. Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) had four strikeouts in the first three innings as the Rockets' Jacob Tabor allowed just one hit. The Rockets took the lead in the top of the fourth. Cahill led off with a double and scored on a Mariano double to make the score 1-0. Mariano reached third on a flyout from Luke Leto and scored on a Kaleb Herbert sacrifice fly to put Toledo up 2-0.
Brouwer went six innings for the Huskies, allowing the two runs on just five hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College) came on in the seventh and retired the first two batters he faced on groundouts to Loyd at shortstop. Toledo loaded the bases on two walks and a Luke Walton single but Cihocki escaped by getting Mariano to fly out. Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) also left the bases loaded in the eighth to keep the deficit at two runs.
"We talk a lot with our relievers about how we caught trying to be too perfect," Copeland said. "Both Danny and Gavin got quick outs but let their guard down, allowed some free passes. At the end of the day, their ultimate job is to put zeroes on the board and they did that. Gavin was bases loaded, 3-0 count and kept us in striking distance. Those two scoreless innings were ultimately the deciding factor in the game."
Micklinghoff earned his first win as a Huskie, with Cox getting his first career save. Parcell reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch. Gauthier was 1-for-4 with an RBI. He has driven in at least one run in eight of the last 10 games.
NIU and Toledo play the middle game of this weekend's series tomorrow, Saturday, May 10 at 2 p.m.
—NIU—
