DeKALB, IL – Senior pitcher Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) of the Northern Illinois University baseball team threw the Huskies' first complete game one-hit shutout in over 10 years on Saturday as NIU defeated the Bowling Green Falcons 5-0 at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
 
"I knew right away that I was going to go as long as I possibly can, give ourselves a chance tomorrow with a full bullpen," said Vaisvila after his second second straight complete game victory. "Ivan [Dahlberg] and I were on the same page which makes it really easy to compete."
 
Vaisvila is the first Huskie to throw a complete game shutout since Michael Lasiewicz on May 22, 2019 against Miami in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. He had a career-high 14 strikeouts on the day, the second-most in a single game in NIU history. Vaisvila is the first NIU pitcher since Eli Anderson in 2014 to have consecutive complete games. The senior lefty has not allowed a run in his last 17 innings pitched. Alex Klonowski had NIU's last one-hitter on April 6, 2014 in a 7-0 win over Toledo.
 
"When you get a start like that, you just know you're going to win," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We have a lot of confidence in our starting pitching and that starts with Max now. He's throwing three pitches for strikes whenever he wants. His breaking ball is much improved and he's put a lot of work into that. I'm very proud of him. He's the ultimate competitor."
 
Bowling Green (8-16, 4-7 MAC) only had four batters reach base in Saturday's game. Carter Mottice reached on an error with one out in the top of the first, but was thrown out trying to steal second by NIU catcher Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) to end the inning. Vaisvila then retired the side in both the second and third innings, recording four strikeouts over that stretch.
 
NIU (15-8, 7-4 MAC) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Dahlberg drew a walk with two outs to keep the inning alive. Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) was hit by a Nate Kress pitch and Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) loaded the bases with a single. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) delivered a two-run single through the left side of the infield to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. NIU extended the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth when a Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) sacrifice fly scored Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet).
 
Vaisvila took a no-hitter into the seventh inning when Mattice led off with a single. He bounced back with a strikeout of TJ Takats then got Andrew DiLovovico to bounce into a double play to end the inning. The Huskies' lead grew to 5-0 in the bottom of the seventh as NIU scored on a wild pitch and a bases loaded walk. Vaisvila then struck out the side in the eighth to get to 13 strikeouts on the day. In the ninth Vaisvila struck out Griffin Schederer to lead off the inning. He then walked Alex Laird but got Sam Seidel to hit into a game-ending double play.
 
"It's the sign of a good team to bounce back like we do," Copeland said. "You lose a tough one yesterday and you start to think about the lineup and bullpen today. At the end of the day you don't have to worry to much about it because these guys are so resilient and tough."
 
Vaisvila has won each of his last five starts dating back to Feb. 28 at Lindenwood. He has struck out 36 batters in his last 37 innings pitched with a 1.22 earned run average.
 
The rubber game of this weekend's series is tomorrow, Sunday, March 29 at 1 p.m.
 
--NIU--