NIU baseball was swept in its doubleheader to open its four-game weekend in Louisiana, losing to the defending National Champions in No. 2 Louisiana State University and Northwestern State University.
GAME 1
NIU’s short lived lead disappeared quickly in the first game matchup versus LSU.
NIU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning, as senior outfielder/catcher Colin Summerhill scored on a wild pitch with senior infielder Eric Erato advancing two bases on the play.
The Huskies’ lead did not last long as Tigers junior infielder Michael Braswell III deposited junior pitcher Tommy Meyer’s pitch over the fence for a 2-run home run.
LSU followed up by hitting another 2-run home in the second inning, this time by sophomore outfielder Paxton Kling.
The Huskies could only muster one more run throughout the rest of the contest in the fourth via a home run by senior infielder Mason Kelley, while LSU added on 3 more home runs by the end of the game. Two of the final homers came from junior infielder Josh Pearson’s bat.
Meyer was the starting pitcher for NIU’s first of two games on Thursday. The southpaw lasted 3 innings, giving up 5 earned runs on 4 hits while walking 5 hitters, earning him the loss.
Senior pitcher Ryan Linkletter relieved Meyer in the fourth inning and worked 3 innings out of the bullpen. Linkletter surrendered four earned runs on two hits and collected one strikeout.
“Overall, we competed very well against LSU for most of the game,” said head coach Ryan Copeland via NIU Athletics. “It was really good to get that run in the first and see Tommy put up a zero. You feel like you’re hanging with them but at some point their talent takes over. LSU has a lot of dangerous hitters in their lineup and I don’t think they threw a fastball under 92 (MPH).”
GAME 2
NIU dropped the second game of the doubleheader against Northwestern State University by a score of 13-6.
The Huskies committed several costly mistakes in the late stages of the second matchup, committing several errors in big spots.
Senior infielder Aaron Harper was picked off at first base to end a seventh-inning rally and junior infielder Christian Seegers was picked off at second base in the eighth inning.
Summerhill followed up a lackluster performance in Game 1 with 3 hits in Game 2. Starting at catcher in this game, Summerhill poked 2 balls over the fence in the game and drove in 4 runs.
“Colin has been outstanding so far this season,” said Copeland via an NIU Athletics press release. “One thing we stressed in the fall was letting him go out and get some swings off, especially ahead in the count, and be as dangerous as he possibly can. He had some really good at-bats tonight.”
Freshman outfielder Charlie Parcell totaled two singles and a double in the second game of the doubleheader.
NSU got the scoring started in the 3rd inning, plating three runs off of NIU’s redshirt sophomore pitcher Adam Brouwer. The Demons scored three runs in the next two innings, chasing Brouwer from the game.
NIU first got on the board in the fourth inning and pulled within two runs in the fifth inning, capped off by an RBI single by Summerhill.
Brouwer only lasted 3 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and striking out five batters.
Junior pitcher Mason Ruh came into the game in relief of Brouwer, pitching 4 innings and giving up seven runs on 10 hits. Ruh also picked up 6 strikeouts.
NIU will continue its weekend series at 6 p.m. Friday against Northwestern State at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium. Live stats will be available on Stat Broadcast.
