DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team won its first series against Ball State in nine years this weekend but could not complete a series sweep as the Cardinals won Sunday's finale 17-5 at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
Prior to Sunday's game NIU honored its 12 seniors for Senior Day –
Cole Smith,
Will Couchman,
John Lyman,
Blake Gaskey,
Tommy Meyer,
Gavin Micklinghoff,
Caden Robertson,
Ivan Dahlberg,
Max Vaisvila,
Tyler Deleskiewicz,
Matt Tarr and
Gavin Baldwin.
"I'm really proud of them and what they have achieved on the field this season," said head coach
Ryan Copeland following the game. "Senior classes nowadays in college athletics aren't what they used to be now that we have the transfer portal. The way those guys have meshed and bonded as teammates, both on and off the field, has led to a lot of our success on the field. I can't say enough about the type of people they are and the character they have."
Ball State (22-28, 15-15 MAC) scored first in the game Sunday. NIU starting pitcher
Mason Orton (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) got Ryan Muizelaar to fly out for the second out. With runners at the corners Brady Davidson hit a double down the left field line to score Gavin Balius from third and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Brett Griffiths followed with another double to clear the bases and make the score 3-0. Ball State tacked on two more runs to go up 5-0.
NIU (31-14, 21-9 MAC) got a run back in the bottom of the first. The first three Huskie batters all got on base as Robertson and
Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) drew walks around a Smith single.
Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) hit a ground ball up the middle that Ball State turned two on, with Wawro scoring to get NIU on the board 5-1. After
Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) was hit by a pitch, Cardinals starting pitcher Keegan Johnson got a strikeout to end the inning.
Gaskey settled the game down from the bullpen for the Huskies. The senior allowed just two hits over the next four innings, striking out six Cardinal batters and also picking off a runner at first base. His six punchouts were a season-high.
"Blake competed his tail off and gave us everything he could," Copeland said. "He's an emotional guy and I think emotions got the best of us today."
The Cardinals extended their lead with two outs in the top of the sixth. Balius ripped a triple to the right field corner with the bases loaded to put Ball State up 8-1. NIU was down 9-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Couchman hit a pinch-hit two-run home run over the left field fence to make the score 9-3.
"For Will to come off the bench and hit a home run, kind of gave us a glimmer of hope going into the ninth," Copeland said. "That's just what he does. He's been a professional through and through and is ready to go when called upon."
Ball State scored eight runs in the top of the ninth with NIU adding two on a two-run single from Wawro to make the final score 17-5.
Following Sunday's game, nine Huskies received their degrees in a special commencement ceremony as NIU's commencement was held on Saturday. Couchman, Gaskey, Lyman, Robertson and Tarr, along with
Nick Bassi and
Alex Day, received their bachelor's degrees as Meyer received his master's in Business Administration.
NIU wraps up its 2026 home slate on Tuesday, May 12 against future Horizon League opponent Milwaukee. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
--NIU--
