SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team trailed the Wofford Terriers 5-0 and was hitless through five innings Sunday at Russell C. King Field, then rallied for a 9-6 victory in the final game of the One Spartanburg Inc. Baseball Classic.

"Good programs find a way to navigate the game in front of them and not get so caught up in any kind of identity," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We've got to be able to win close games, low scoring games as well as slugfests. A lot of guys have gotten opportunities to be in big moments and we're learning a lot about our roster. We did a really good job today just sticking with it and continuing to have good at-bats. We found a way to chip away and eventually landed that knockout punch."

NIU (4-3) had drawn three walks in the first five innings but did not have a hit until Cooper Cohn's (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) leadoff single in the top of the sixth. Cohn advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) base hit. After a flyout, Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) and Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) hit back-to-back RBI singles to make the score 5-2. Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) drove in those two runners with a single to left to get the Huskies within a run, 5-4.

The Huskies put four more runs on the board in the top of the seventh to take the lead. Smith led off with a double to left, scoring on a Romero single that made the score 5-5. With two outs and the go-ahead run at second, Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) launched his first home run of the year over the left field fence to give NIU a 7-5 lead.

"Gavin did a really good job staying closed and hitting the ball to the pull side," Copeland said. "He got a really good pitch to hit and he's been close a few times and finally got it. You could feel the momentum of the game take a turn there with that home run."

NIU tacked on one more run in the seventh. Robertson singled followed by a walk to Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet). Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) laced a single to centerfield to bring home Robertson and extend the lead to 8-5.

Wofford (5-2) got a run back in the bottom of the eighth. Harrison Campi led off with a single to right field. After a one-out walk to Logan Tribble, Andrew Mannelly hit a single to right that scored Campi and made the score 8-6. Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) entered the game from the NIU bullpen and struck out Hunter Herndon and Lucas Manning to quell the Terriers' threat.

The Huskies put another insurance run on the board with two outs in the top of the ninth. It started with a Robertson double, his third hit of the game. Sandee walked to bring Wawro to the plate. The freshman delivered another base hit to centerfield, scoring pinch runner Austin Wiegand (Eureka, Ill./John A. Logan College) to put NIU up 9-6.

Wofford got its first two hitters on base in the ninth on a walk and a hit by pitch. John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) got Niko Brini to ground out back to the mound for the first out, moving the two runners into scoring position. The NIU lefty struck out Campi swinging and Ben Timblin looking to lock up the save and a 9-6 NIU victory.

Sunday's game was the first time since March 28, 2025 at Butler that NIU came back from a deficit of five runs or more to win. Robertson and Wawro both had three hits and two RBI in the game. Romero was 2-for-5 with a  pair of RBI and Smith had two hits as well.

"We just needed somebody to be a spark once we got to Wofford's bullpen," said Copeland. "The bottom of the order did that and once we got on the board there in the fifth it led to a really good offensive day. That's the benefit of having a dangerous offense. It just takes one guy to get it going and everyone follows and that's what happened today."

For the second straight game NIU pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) had nine in 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on four hits with four walks. Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) earned the win in relief, throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. Lyman got his first save of the season.

NIU heads to Lindenwood next weekend for a four-game series against the Lions, starting Friday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m.

—NIU—