KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team led 6-1 on Saturday afternoon but could not hold off a Western Michigan rally, falling 7-6 in the regular season finale at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field.
"We felt really good about the weekend and having a chance to go win a regular season title," said head coach
Ryan Copeland. "Today we had that lead in the second half of the game and had to find a way to win. We have to pitch better, we left too many runners on base. We got deep into Western Michigan's bullpen today but we couldn't find a way to put more runs across the plate."
The Huskies finish the league slate with a 21-12 record, a program-high for conference wins. NIU tied for third in the Mid-American Conference standings with Toledo and will be the fourth-seed in next week's MAC Tournament.
NIU (31-17, 21-12 MAC) broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth.
Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) led off with a double, followed by a
Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) single and an
Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) walk that loaded the bases.
Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) lined a single up the middle to drive in Baldwin and Spotofora to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead. After a flyout
Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) reached on an infield single to load the bases again.
Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) drew a walk to score Dahlberg and put NIU up 4-1.
Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) followed with a two-run double to center to make the score 6-1.
"We did a really good job in that inning and came through with a couple big hits," Copeland said. "We just needed to find a way to score in more than two of the nine innings. Our process was okay but we just had too many missed opportunities."
Western Michigan (26-23, 20-13 MAC) chipped away at NIU's lead, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth on a Tanner Mally RBI single to put the score at 6-2. The Broncos had the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth when
Matt Tarr (North Aurora, Ill./Purdue) got Mally to ground out to end the inning. Tarr got out of another bases loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh by striking out Mason Pilarski to keep the Huskies ahead by four.
The Huskies had an opportunity to build on its lead in the top of the eighth.
Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) led off with a walk, getting to second base on a one-out Spotofora infield single. Matt Maloney got the Broncos out of the inning by getting a double play. Western Michigan rode that momentum into an four-run bottom of the eighth, highlighted by an Avery Thielman two-run double that tied the game 6-6.
NIU had runners at first and second with one out in the top of the ninth after a fielder's choice and a walk to pinch-hitter
Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College). Wawro hit a flyball to centerfield that Mally made a diving catch on, allowing
Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) to reach third base with two out. Romero stole second but a strikeout ended the inning. Pilarski led off the bottom on the ninth by getting hit by a
John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) pitch. Mark Mennecke put down a sacrifice bunt to get Pilarski into scoring position. Lyman struck out Diego Pena for the second out then intentionally walked Mally. Drew Howard hit a single down the left field line to score Pilarski and give WMU the weekend sweep 7-6.
The Huskies had eight hits in the game and drew nine walks. Spotofora and Couchman each had two hits as Baldwin had a hit for the ninth time in the last 10 games. Howard was 3-for-6 for WMU with two RBI.
These two teams will face each other again on Wednesday, May 20
th in the second game of the 2026 MAC Baseball Championship, held at ForeFront Field in Avon, Ohio. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CT.
"I envision our guys playing with a little something extra on Wednesday with how disappointing this weekend was," Copeland said. "We expect to win every game we play, certainly expect to win every series. We have a tough group and I have no doubt that we'll play our best on Wednesday night."
--NIU--
