Baseball | June 9

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team had eight student-athletes selected to the Mid-American Conference's Academic All-MAC Team on Tuesday morning.
 
This is the sixth consecutive year NIU has had at least eight Academic All-MAC selections. Juniors Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) and Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) earned their second Academic All-MAC honors. Cohn was named to the MAC All-Tournament Team after throwing eight shutout innings in the Huskies' run to their first conference title. Parcell started all 53 games he played this season and was second on the team in stolen bases with 18.
 
Senior pitchers Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) and John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) add Academic All-MAC honors to their College Sports Communicators Academic All-District nods. Bassi had a 3-1 record out of the bullpen with two saves, striking out 23 batters in 20.2 innings pitched. Lyman also had two saves this season.
 
Senior Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) and junior Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College) earned their first Academic All-MAC selections. Couchman hit .242 in 33 games in 2026 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in. Cihocki was named to the All-MAC Defensive Team earlier this year and led the Huskies with 92.2 innings pitched. On Feb. 23 Cihocki was named the MAC Co-Pitcher of the Week after holding Presbyterian to one run on four hits in seven innings, striking out a career-high 10 batters.
 
Sophomores Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) and Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) also earned their first Academic All-MAC selections. Cox was named MAC Pitcher of the Week on April 6 after striking out 12 UMass batters in eight innings in a 6-0 win on April 4. He also had12 strikeouts in 5.1 innings against Miami in the MAC Tournament on May 21 and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Sandee hit .300 in 50 games this season with a .470 on-base percentage. He had four RBI in NIU's 12-10 win over Coastal Carolina on May 29^th, the Huskies' first NCAA Tournament win.
 
NIU won a single-season program record 36 games in 2026 along with its first MAC baseball championship. The Huskies reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1972.
 
To qualify for the Academic All-MAC Team, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of games for that season. First-year students and transfers in their first year at their school are not eligible.
 
--NIU--
 
NIU 2026 Academic All-MAC Selections
Nick Bassi, Sr., Sport Management, 3.73 GPA
Danny Cihocki, Jr., Marketing, 3.40 GPA
! - Cooper Cohn, Jr., Sport Management, 3.39 GPA
Carter Cox, So., Kinesiology, 3.24 GPA
Will Couchman, Sr., Organizational/Corporate Communications, 3.44 GPA
John Lyman, Sr., Organizational/Corporate Communications, 3.62 GPA
! - Charlie Parcell, Jr., Marketing, 3.48 GPA
Nolan Sandee, So., Kinesiology, 3.37 GPA
 
! – 2025 Academic All-MAC Selection