GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team won on opening day for the first time in over 10 years on Friday, defeating the North Carolina A&T Aggies 10-2 at World War Memorial Stadium.
 
The Huskies' last win in the season opener came on Feb. 13, 2015 in a 10-6 victory over South Dakota State. NIU had seven hits and drew seven walks in the game Friday. Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) both had two hits in their first games as Huskies. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) both had a game-high three RBI from the top of the lineup.
 
"We did a good job of taking what they gave us," said head coach Ryan Copeland after the victory. "You never really know how you're going to come out the first time playing outside. I'd like for us to get on the barrel a bit more and collect some more hits, but we did a good job of getting on base and anytime you can score 10 runs on a Friday in college baseball you'll take that."
 
Parcell manufactured NIU's first run of the game in the top of the first. He drew a walk to leadoff the game, then stole second and third base. After back-to-back strikeouts, Parcell scored on a passed ball to put the Huskies up 1-0.
 
Dahlberg led off the second with a double, NIU's first hit of the game. Austin Wiegand (Eureka, Ill./John A. Logan College) also got on base in his first plate appearance as a Huskie, drawing a walk with one out. Spotofora drove in Dahlberg from second with a single through the right side, putting NIU up 2-0. After NC A&T starting pitcher Diego Barrett hit Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) to load the bases. Parcell drove in Wiegand from third with a sacrifice fly to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.
 
NIU (1-0) broke the game open in the fourth. The first three batters all reached base, starting with a Wiegand base hit followed by walks to Spotofora and Sandee. Parcell was then hit by a Ross Fowler pitch to bring home Wiegand and make the score 4-0. Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) cleared the bases with a triple to give NIU a 7-0 lead. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) drove in Smith on a groundout for the fifth run of the inning and an 8-0 advantage.
 
"Cole's a really good baseball player and he had good at-bats today," Copeland said of the NIU second baseman. "He had one hit and it was a big one. We always want our guys to sense that ability to throw that knockout punch. The domino effect of clearing the bases there, get out to a big lead and be able to settle into the game while also making NC A&T go to the bullpen earlier than they wanted could hopefully set us up for success on Saturday and Monday."
 
Carter Cox (St. Peter's, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) retired nine of the first 10 NC A&T batters he faced on Friday with seven strikeouts. The Aggies got their first hit of the game in the top of the fourth on a one-out single from Bruce Wyche. With two on and two out, Boaz Harper drove in JT Taylor from second base with a single to make the score 8-1. NIU got the run back in the top of the fifth as a two-out Parcell RBI single put the Huskies ahead 9-1.
 
NIU pitchers struck out 14 batters on Friday. Cox had a career-high 10 in five innings, allowing one run on four hits. Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) had three punchouts in two perfect innings of relief. Ben Kasten (Hales Corners, Wis./Madison College) had a strikeout in a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
 
"The best thing about Carter is you have a chance to win every time he takes the mound because of his competitiveness and ability to find a way to get the job done," said Copeland. "The stat line is impressive. Carter did a really good job setting the tone and our pitchers are competitive. They look at each other's outings as a way to one up another and I know Danny [Cihocki] will be ready to go tomorrow."
 
NC A&T (0-1) had five hits in the game. Marcus Bradshaw was 1-for-4 with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth.
 
The Huskies and Aggies play game two of this weekend's series on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 1 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--