DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored in six of the first seven innings on Sunday against the Bowling Green Falcons, putting up five runs in the seventh on its way to a 12-8 win at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
 
NIU (16-8, 8-4 MAC) has won three of its first four Mid-American Conference series of the season and are 5-1 at its home ballpark. Junior third baseman Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) led the Huskies with his first three-hit game of the season, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) had two doubles and also drove in a run. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) had three RBI on the day as six different Huskies brought in a run on Sunday.
 
"I was proud of our relentlessness and our approach at the plate today," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We faced three of the better starting pitchers we're going to face this season. Coach Kelch did a good job with our guys this week. I know what this offense is capable of, and if the weather starts to turn and we can get some more favorable win conditions, I think it's going to keep getting better."
 
The Huskies raced out to a 4-0 lead. A Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) RBI single and a Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) run-scoring ground out put the Huskies up 2-0 in the first. In the second Parcell delivered a two-run single with two outs that scored Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) and Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) that doubled the NIU lead.
 
Bowling Green (8-17, 4-8 MAC) responded with five runs in the top of the third on seven straight hits to start the inning. Brayden Curlis' single down the left field line gave the Falcons a 5-4 lead and runners at the corners. Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa/Ohio) entered the game from the NIU bullpen in relief of Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) and struck out Lance Vickers for the first out. Pinch-hitter Alex Laird then dropped a bunt of the third base line. Spotofora charged the ball and went home to get Andrew DiLodovico out for the second out of the inning. Zach Horky then lined out Spotofora to end the frame.
 
"I thought Carter threw the ball well today, but Bowling Green just got to him," Copeland said. "They were probably due over there. Blake gave us five solid innings, exactly what we needed. He's one of our length guys out of the pen and throws a ton of strikes and competes. We don't win today if Blake isn't at his best."
"It was huge, you look at the scoreboard and if you let a couple more runs slip it could be a different ballgame from there on out," Gaskey added. "It was important to pick Carter up like he did last weekend against Miami."
 
NIU manufactured the tying run in the bottom of the fourth. After a Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third with one out, Robertson brought home Sandee with a ground out to make the score 5-5. The Huskies took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth when back-to-back doubles from Spotofora and Sandee gave NIU a 6-5 advantage. Baldwin put the lead at two, 7-5, with his fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Gaskey allowed just one run in his five innings of relief on Sunday. A DiLodovico RBI groundout in the seventh made the score 7-6. The Huskies pulled away in the bottom half of the seventh, putting five runs on the board to take a 12-6 lead. Ivan Dahlberg's (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) two-run single with two outs put the exclamation point on the inning, and the series as well.
 
"At the end of the day, these guys believe," Copeland said. "I think we're good. I think they believe we're good and are walking around like it. When we get to the park, whether it's next weekend at UMass or when Kent State comes here, we're going to expect to win. Belief is a powerful thing. You know it when you feel it."
 
All nine batters in the NIU lineup had a hit on Sunday. Smith, Robertson, Romero, Wawro and Spotofora each scored two runs.
 
NIU goes on the road April 2-4 to take on the UMass Minutemen. The series starts Thursday, April 2 with a 2 p.m. CT first pitch.
 
--NIU--