DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team completed a series sweep of the reigning Mid-American Conference champion Miami RedHawks Sunday afternoon with a 6-4 win at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
 
"Our group really showed how tough they are this weekend," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "To sweep a team like that is impressive and we did it in many different ways. It was the offense on Friday, the pitching yesterday and a little bit of everything today. Every single game came down to our resilience and toughness. It was a great weekend for our guys."
 
This is NIU's first sweep of Miami since 2012. The Huskies are 3-0 at home for the first time since 2013. Senior catcher Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) was 2-for-3 with two solo home runs, giving him four home runs and nine runs batted in for the weekend. He also scored three runs Sunday. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) also had two hits and two RBI.
 
"I went back to simplifying things and [Assistant] Coach [Joe] Kelch helped me with that," Dahlberg said after hitting .333 this weekend with a 1.333 slugging percentage. "Once that happened things started going my way. It's great to help the team get a sweep this weekend."
 
NIU (13-7, 6-3 MAC) scored first on Sunday as Dahlberg's first home run of the day in the bottom of the second put the Huskies up 1-0. Miami tied the game in the top of the third when catcher Matt Buffington's leadoff home run made the score 1-1. The RedHawks loaded the bases with two outs but Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) got Ignacio Gonzalez to ground out to end the inning.
 
Miami (14-8, 5-4 MAC) took the lead in the top of the fifth. With a runner at third and two away Diego Cruz hit a home run over the right field fence to give the RedHawks a 3-1 advantage. The Huskies tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) started the rally with a one-out infield single. An errant pickoff attempt from Miami pitcher Clayton Burke allowed Romero to get to second base. After a strikeout for the second out, Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) laced a double to left center to score Romero and get NIU within a run at 3-2. Parcell then dunked a single into centerfield to bring home Sandee and tie the game 3-3.
 
NIU reliever Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa/Ohio) entered the game in the top of the fifth and retired six of the first seven batters he faced, striking out the side in the top of the sixth. Dahlberg put the Huskies back in the lead in the bottom of the sixth with his second long ball of the game that put the score at 4-3. NIU extended the lead with a Parcell RBI single in the seventh and a Romero run-scoring double in the eighth to go up 6-3 going into the ninth.
 
The RedHawks attempted to rally in the ninth. The first two batters reached base as Keenan Proctor singled and Christoper Roa drew a walk. Matt Tarr (North Aurora, Ill./Purdue) entered the game from the bullpen and hit Marcus Dierks with a pitch to load the bases with no out. Ryan Novak flew out for the first out. Evan Appelwick then hit a sacrifice fly that scored Proctor to make the score 6-4. Tarr then got Tommy Harrison to ground out to lock up the win.
 
Gaskey earned the win in relief, allowing one run on three hits in four innings. The senior struck out four Miami batters while walking two. Tarr earned his third save of the year. At 6-3 in MAC play NIU is off to its best conference start since 2019.
 
"Blake was huge for us today," Copeland said. "We came into today thinking we were going to need to use quite a few of our arms and it turned out we didn't. When Blake came in we were expecting an inning or two, but he was throwing the ball so well and was a nice change of pace. He's been a welcome addition for us."
 
NIU is on the road on Tuesday, March 24 to take on Eastern Illinois. First pitch is at 3 p.m.
 
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