KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team erased a four-run deficit in the middle innings on Thursday afternoon against the Western Michigan Broncos at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field, but the hosts came back in the bottom of the eighth for an 8-6 win.
"Today was a well-played game, but Western Michigan's offense did a good job against us and a lot of bad ball luck hurt us," said head coach
Ryan Copeland. "We just allowed too many base runners, especially for game one of a series. We've been so good finishing games of late with our bullpen and we allowed the three-spot in the eighth. We've bounced back all year and I expect a good effort tomorrow."
This is the first time NIU has dropped consecutive games since Feb. 18 and 20. Western Michigan outhit the Huskies 14-7.
Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) had two hits in the game, going 2-for-4.
Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, extending his on-base streak to 30 straight games.
NIU (31-15, 21-10 MAC) got its first two hits of the game in the top of the second inning. Sandee reached on a one-out single to right field. Baldwin followed with a base hit to left.
Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) loaded the bases by drawing a walk from Western Michigan starting pitcher Zach Vriesenga. After a strikeout for the second out Sandee scored on a wild pitch to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Western Michigan (24-23, 18-13 MAC) responded in the bottom of the second. Avery Thielman led off with a walk off of
Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College). Lucas Rick then hit a double off the left field wall to give the Broncos runners at second and third. Cihocki got a pop out for the first out but a Mason Pilarski double scored both runners and gave WMU a 2-1 lead. Nolan Zajac followed with a single to center to drive in Pilarski and extend the lead to 3-1. Back-to-back RBI singles from Drew Howard and Michael Maloney capped a five-run WMU second inning.
The Huskies got three runs back in the top of the third.
Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) led off a walk.
Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) then reached first base on a Pilarski error at third base.
Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) cleared the bases with a triple down the right field line, making the score 5-3.
Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) brought Spotofora around to score on a sacrifice fly, getting the Huskies within a run at 5-4.
NIU tied the game in the top of the fifth. Robertson stole second base with one out, advancing to third on a Sandee groundout. A wild pitch from WMU reliever Adam Lehmann allowed Robertson to score and level the game at 5-5. Cihocki retired the Broncos in order in the bottom of the fifth to get the Huskies back up to bat.
Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) led off the sixth with a single, getting to second on a
Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) sacrifice bunt. Couchman later stole third base. With two outs Smith laced a single through the right side of the infield to score Couchman and put the Huskies back in the lead 6-5.
"There has not been a time this year where we've questioned the fight of our team," Copeland said. "I thought we did a good job off their starter who has a pretty talented arm, and their bullpen neutralized us. We chipped away and got the lead back but it felt like we were going to have to win 6-5."
Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa/Ohio) entered the game from the NIU bullpen in the bottom of the sixth, stranding a lead-off single on base. He also left a Bronco on base in the seventh to keep the Huskies up 6-5. Western Michigan tied the game 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth on a Zajac RBI single. With runners at the corners and two out, Howard hit a single to left center to score Zajac and give WMU a 7-6 lead. Maloney followed with a run-scoring single to make the score 8-6.
Cihocki allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings, striking out four Broncos batters. Lehmann earned the win for WMU, allowing one run on three hits in 3.2 innings. Broncos closer Turner Doran recorded his 10
th save of the year.
The two teams resume their series on Friday, May 15 at 1 p.m. CT.
--NIU--
