DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored 12 runs on 10 hits Friday afternoon to defeat the Kent State Golden Flashes 12-2 in seven innings at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
 
"We were really good top to bottom today," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "That was our best effort of the season offensively, to get their starter out of the game in the third with good at-bat after good at-bat. We got on the barrel and built a big lead. Max [Vaisvila] made the big pitches when he needed to to keep that game from getting closer."
 
Seven of the nine hitters in the NIU lineup had a hit in the game. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West), Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) and Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) each had two hits and combined for six runs batted in. Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) and Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) both had a game-high three RBI.
 
NIU (19-10, 11-5 MAC) took the lead in the bottom of the first. Parcell led off with an infield single, then stole both second and third base. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) drove in Parcell with a two-out single to right field to put the Huskies up 1-0. The Huskies extended the lead with a two-out rally in the second. Couchman kept the inning alive by getting a single off of Kent State's Ciaran Caughey to cap a 10-pitch at-bat. He took second base on a wild pitch, then scored on a Sandee single that made the score 2-0. Parcell then drew a walk to give NIU runners at first and second. Smith then stepped up to the plate and hit a three-run home run over the left field fence to make the score 5-0.
 
"The game was won in the second inning when Will had that long at-bat," Copeland said. "We had two outs and had not scored in the inning, and he kept the inning alive and we ended up scoring four runs. That's what we're trying to do offensively."
 
Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) retired the first 11 batters he faced in the game, but he needed some help from his defense in the top of the third. Nolan Belcher got Kent State's first hit with a single leading off the third. He tried to stretch it to a double but was thrown out by the Huskies' left fielder Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South). Vaisvila then got a groundout and strikeout to end the inning.
 
The Huskies put four more runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning. A one-out walk to Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and a Wawro double chased Caughey from the game. Romero put the first pitch from Kent State reliever Jordan Kolenda into left centerfield for a two-run single, scoring both Dahlberg and Wawro to put NIU up 7-0. Romero stole second base and took third on a passed ball before scoring on a Couchman base hit to make the score 8-0. Parcell drove in Couchman with a single to extend the NIU lead to 9-0.
 
Kent State (24-8, 12-4 MAC) got on the board in the top of the fourth when a Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe home run made the score 9-1. The Golden Flashes added another run in the sixth on an RBI single off the bat of Brody Williams. The Huskies loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth on a Smith walk and Dahlberg and Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) both being hit by pitches. Wawro was hit by a Jaden Varner pitch to score Robertson and put the Huskies up 10-2. Romero followed with a run-scoring walk to make the score 11-2. Sandee also drew a bases loaded walk that put the Huskies up 10, 12-2. Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa/Ohio) came on in relief in the top of the seventh and got the final three outs of the game as the Huskies took the series opener in just seven innings.
 
"Our guys believe we're good, and the more you start to do this against good programs, you start to believe even more," said Copeland. "This was always the plan. I don't know that we're the most talented team or the deepest team, but we have a lot of guys who care about what we do and have the right attitude. If we want to be taken seriously we have to continue to put forth this kind of effort."
 
Vaisvila moved to 6-0 on the year, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings with eight strikeouts. The senior has a 1.71 earned run average in Mid-American Conference games, striking out 40 batters in 42 innings pitched.
 
Game two of this weekend's series is Saturday, April 11 at 2 p.m.
 
--NIU--