MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team clinched its first Mid-American Conference Tournament berth since 2019 on Sunday afternoon, completing a weekend sweep of the Central Michigan Chippewas win an 8-2 win at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
"Reaching the MAC Tournament, getting to the postseason gives you a chance to move on the NCAA Tournament," said head coach
Ryan Copeland following Sunday's win. "I like how we match up with everybody we've seen so far but we have two tough series coming up with a chance to still make some noise in the conference. It's a good feeling to have this locked up and I'm excited for our guys to get to experience that."
NIU (29-13, 19-8 MAC) outscored CMU 30-8 to win the three-game series. The Huskies have scored at least seven runs in each of the eight games and are 11-3 in their 14 games overall. Five different Huskies had two hits in Sunday's ballgame. Freshman outfielder
Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) was 2-for-3 and also drew a pair of walks. He has had multiple hits in nine straight games.
Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College),
Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) and
Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) all had two hits as well.
Just as it did in the first two games this weekend, NIU scored first on Sunday. Wawro and
Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) drew back-to-back walks to lead off the top of the first.
Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) then laced a single up the middle to drive home Wawro and give the Huskies' a 1-0 lead. Spotofora moved the runners into scoring position with a groundout to CMU first baseman Spencer Verburg. With two outs in the inning Chippewas starting pitcher Gavin Moczydlowsky tried to pickoff Robertson at second base, but his throw went into centerfield allowing Smith to put a second run on the board.
"Our guys do such a good job of having good at-bats, being patient, staying inside the strike zone," Copeland said. "When we put the pitcher in the stretch, maybe they lose some of their stuff a little bit. You add in what we're doing on the bases with our ability to run and it's a complete offense that can wreak havoc on a pitching staff."
Central Michigan (19-27, 9-18 MAC) had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the first. Verburg drew a walk off of
Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) with two outs, followed by a Logan Keilen single. Cox left both runners on base by striking out Bryson Webb.
Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) extended the Huskies' lead in the top of the second, leading off with a home run over the left field fence to make the score 3-0. Sandee extended the NIU advantage to 4-0 in the top of the third as his two-out single to left field scored Romero.
The Chippewas got on the board in the bottom of the third. With runners at first and third and one away Verburg laced a single through the right side to score Miguel Correa and make the score 4-1. Keilen followed with a run-scoring single of his own to get CMU within two, 4-2. Cox held the Chippewas to just those two runs, getting a groundout and popout to end the frame.
NIU got a run back in the top of the fifth. Parcell and Wawro hit back-to-back one-out singles to give the Huskies runners at the corners. Smith reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Parcell to give NIU a 5-2 lead. Cox retired the side in order in the bottom of the fifth, continuing a stretch of nine consecutive Chippewas retires. The Huskies scored two more runs in the fifth on another Sandee single and a Parcell sacrifice fly to go up 7-2. NIU put its final run on the board in the top of the eighth as Wawro drove in Parcell from second base on a single to left field to put the Huskies up 8-2.
Cox tied his career-high with eight innings pitched on Sunday, allowing two runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Matt Tarr (North Aurora, Ill./Purdue) pitched a scoreless ninth on just nine pitches.
This is NIU's first road sweep of a MAC opponent since March 24-26, 2017 when the Huskies opened league play with a sweep at Toledo.
"It was certainly a must-win series for us," Copeland added. "Once you get the first two you have to forget what you did on Friday and Saturday and turn today's game into a must win. We want to try to keep pace with the two teams ahead of us because they're winning a whole bunch of games right now. We're just trying to control what we can control and keep winning. It was a great effort by Carter today, we were outstanding offensively and didn't have an error in the field for the third straight game."
NIU opens its final homestand of the regular season on Friday, May 8 with the first of three games against the Ball State Cardinals. First pitch at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park is set for 3 p.m. NIU will honor the 2026 seniors prior to the 1 p.m. game on Sunday, May 10.
--NIU--
