AKRON, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored nine runs in the final two innings Friday afternoon to come back for a 10-8 win against the Akron Zips at Skeeles Field.
"As we've done all year, we just had the toughness, the grit and resilience," said head coach
Ryan Copeland. "When it gets late, whether we're up or down, our guys truly believe we're going to find a way to get it done. I thought our at-bats in the eighth and ninth were really tough. They walked us a handful of times and hit us, but we did a really good job of staying disciplined and making sure we were on the barrel when we got a pitch to hit."
NIU (21-11, 13-6 MAC) trailed 3-1 going into the eighth inning.
Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) led off the inning with a single off of Akron reliever Floyd McKenna, who hit
Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) with a pitch to put the tying run on base.
Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) then put down a bunt to the left side of the infield, which McKenna fielded but threw wide of first base. Spotofora scored on the play to make the score 3-2. With runners at second and third and one away,
Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) hit a one-hopper back to the mount. McKenna threw home but the throw went to the backstop, allowing both Parcell and Wawro to score to give the Huskies' a 4-3 lead.
The Huskies were not done scoring. McKenna hit
Ivan Dahlberg (Mokena, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and
Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) with pitches to load the bases. Taylor Bednar entered the game from the Zips bullpen and walked
Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) to score Baldwin and put NIU up 5-3.
Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) then hit a single to centerfield to bring around Dahlberg and give the Huskies a 6-3 lead.
Akron (16-22, 6-13) took back the lead in the bottom of the eighth.
Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa/Ohio) retired the first two batters he faced in the inning. Easton Amundsen then hit a home run over the right field wall to make the score 6-4. Mitchel Szymczak and Prince DeBoskie followed with back-to-back singles. Tucker Biehl then reached base on an error that scored Szymczak and got Akron within a run at 6-5. Tucker Biehl then laced a base hit to centerfield, scoring two runs to give the Zips a 7-6 lead.
Wawro led off the ninth with a single to left field, followed by a
Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) walk. After a flyout, Dahlberg hit a home run down the right field line to give NIU a 9-7 lead.
"Ivan has been working on getting on the barrel a bit more," Copeland said. "He gets really good at-bats. When the game's on the line, it just feels like there's no one else we'd rather have up there."
Sandee then was hit by a pitch. Cohn drew a walk, during which Sandee stole third and scored on a groundout to put the Huskies up 10-7. The Zips scored one run in the bottom of the ninth but that was it as
Matt Tarr (North Aurora, Ill./Purdue) struck out Szymczak for the final out to lock up the 10-8 win.
Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) started on the mound for NIU and allowed three runs on six hits, two of which were earned. He walked two batters and struck out three. Vaisvila has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last eight starts. The Huskies have won all 10 of the senior's starts this season.
Game two of this weekend's series has been moved up to 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT on Saturday.
--NIU--
