DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team outhit the Eastern Illinois Panthers 14-11 on Tuesday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park, but three errors proved costly in an 11-9 defeat.
 
"Today was disappointing," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "I thought we were really good offensively. It was really good to see Gavin [Baldwin] and Will [Couchman] put some good swings on the ball. Our defense has been strong all year and it wasn't today. We expect to play clean baseball and we didn't today."
 
Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) and Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) drove in eight of the Huskies' nine runs in the game. Couchman had a career-high five RBI, going 3-for-4 with a double. Baldwin was 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and three runs scored. Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) also had three hits and three runs.
 
"We were all over the barrel today," Copeland added. "We probably lined out four or five times. It was a tougher day to hit here. I'm really happy for Will. He's had his struggles and thought today was a good day to get him in. He was as good as advertised. If we can get him going down the stretch it's a good sign for our offense going forward."
 
NIU (18-10) took the lead in the bottom of the second. Baldwin and Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) drew consecutive walks to lead off the inning. After a popout, Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) hit a single down the left field line to score Baldwin and put the Huskies up 1-0. Couchman and Connor Mendell (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) followed with RBI singles of their own to make the score 3-0.
 
EIU (18-11) responded with four runs in the top of the third. With runners at the corners and no outs, Brett Stanley laced a double to right center to score Colin Horneman and make the score 3-1. A Chris Worcester sacrifice fly brought home Tyler Castro and got the Panthers within a run at 3-2. James Love tied the game 3-3 with a double, then scored on a Mike O'Conor single to put EIU ahead 4-3. Both teams scored a run in the fourth and two in the sixth. Couchman's two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth got the Huskies within a run at 7-6.
 
NIU tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Romero led off with a double down the right field line. Couchman drove Romero in with a single up the middle to make the score 7-7. Couchman stole second but was left there after a pair of flyouts. Love led off the EIU ninth with a walk, getting to third base on a throwing error by NIU pitcher Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) on an O'Conor sacrifice bunt that put O'Conor on second base. Peyton Wilson hit a single to right to score Love and give the Panthers an 8-7 lead. Another NIU error allowed O'Conor to score and put the score at 9-7. EIU tacked on two more runs to go up 11-7. The Huskies got two runs back in the bottom of the ninth on Baldwin's two-run homer, his sixth of the season, but came up two runs short.
 
Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa/Ohio) allowed one run in 3.1 innings of relief for NIU, allowing four hits while striking out four batters. Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) had three strikeouts in 1.1 innings.
 
The Huskies open a three-game series against the Mid-American Conference leaders Kent State on Friday, April 10. First Pitch is at 3 p.m.
 
--NIU--