DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team secured its sixth consecutive series win on Saturday afternoon, hanging on for an 11-8 victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
 
"Today was another good win, another series win," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We learned our lesson from last weekend and have to find a way to close it out tomorrow. We've played complimentary baseball. We pitched really well for most of the year and showed we can win that type of game. It's been two days for the offense, and the park has played offensive. We needed every run today. Vinny [Spotofora] had the big home run in the eighth to put it out of reach. We're just trying to find ways to win the game in front of us."
 
Junior third baseman Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) had a career-high five runs batted in on the day, going 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and a home run. Spotofora has driven in 10 runs in his last five games. Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) also had three hits in the game with two doubles, two RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base.
 
Eastern Michigan (12-28, 6-17 MAC) opened the scoring on Saturday the same way it did on Friday. A two-out, two-run home run off the bat of Ty Stecko gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Huskies got their first hit of the game off of EMU starting pitcher Cal Rutherford on a Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) base hit leading off the bottom of the third. Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) reached on a fielder's choice that retired Parcell at second base. After a strikeout, Rutherford balked to give Couchman second base. Wawro drove him in with a double to make the score 2-1. Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) drew a walk to keep the inning alive for Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma), who laced a single to left field to bring in Wawro and tie the game 2-2.
 
NIU (25-12, 16-7 MAC) took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) was hit by a pitch leading off the inning. He scored on an Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) double to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead. Couchman made the score 4-2 with an RBI single that brought around Dahlberg to score. After a walk to Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry), Wawro hit a double to right field to score Couchman and put NIU ahead 5-2. A Robertson sacrifice fly scored Cohn to make the score 6-2. Spotofora put the exclamation point on a six-run inning with a two-run single down the right field line to put NIU ahead 8-2.
 
"There's just no quit in this team," Spotofora said after NIU's ninth win in the last 11 games. "One through nine, even the guys on the bench, it's kind of ridiculous. We're just a winning team. We just have to keep it rolling to stay in the hunt for a top seed in the MAC Tournament."
 
The Eagles got two runs back in the top of the sixth on a Stecko leadoff home run and a Drew Jones sacrifice fly, getting within four at 8-4. NIU went back up by five runs in the bottom half of the inning on a Spotofora double that scored Wawro and put the score at 9-4. EMU made one last rally in the top of the seventh. John Hale led off with a home run to make the score 9-5. Phillip Thigpen then reached on a walk. Matt Tarr (North Aurora, Ill./Purdue) got a pair of lineouts for the first two outs but a Tristan Crane double scored Thigpen and get the Eagles within three at 9-6. Mason Orton (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) entered the game from the NIU bullpen and allowed a Nathan Borchardt double that scored Crane to get EMU within two, 9-7. Orton struck out Ben Schechterman to end the inning, then held the Eagles scoreless in the top of the eighth.
 
NIU got two valuable insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Sandee led off with a single. After a strikeout, Spotofora launched a two-run home run over the right centerfield fence to put the Huskies up 11-7. The Eagles got one run back in the top of the ninth but got no closer as Cohn got the final out of the game to strand two runners on base and secure the 11-8 win.
 
Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College) earned the win on the mound for NIU, going 5.1 innings and allowing four runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Orton allowed one run in two innings of relief with three strikeouts. Cohn earned his first career save after getting his first career win on Tuesday night at UIC.
 
The two teams wrap up this weekend's series on Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m.
 
--NIU--