NIU baseball (2-5) exploded for seven runs in the first inning, setting the tone early in a convincing 14-4 victory over the Northwestern State University Demons (2-4) Friday.

Freshman pitcher Ty Brachbill spun a gem for the Huskies in his second career start, giving up just two earned runs on four hits in 5.2 innings pitched. Brachbill is the first starting pitcher to record a win this season. 

On the offensive side of the ball, NIU was led by 3-hit games from senior left fielder Eric Erato, senior first baseman Mason Kelley and senior designated hitter Aaron Harper. The Huskies finished the game with 17 hits. 

DOMINANCE ON THE MOUND

Brachbill paved the way for the NIU arms, allowing just one hit through the first three innings. Brachbill made it clean through the first five innings, allowing no runs until the sixth. 

“Ty is just going to keep getting better and better every time he goes out there,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland via NIU Athletics. “He’s got great stuff. He held his velocity really well and was able to land his breaking ball most of the night. He did a great job of being in the zone enough and executed our game plan extremely well.”

Due to the slaughter rule, the Huskies needed just two pitchers to get through the seven-inning game. Redshirt junior pitcher Matt Salomonson covered the final 1.1 innings in relief of Brachbill.

Brachbill struck out eight hitters and allowed just one extra base hit. With their fourth game in three days coming up on Saturday, the Huskie bullpen will be fresh for their rematch with Louisiana State University. 

HIT PARADE

Six Huskies notched multi-hit games and eight Huskies recorded hits to combine for 17 total hits in Friday’s beatdown. NIU “singled” the Demons to death, as just three of their hits went for extra bases. 

Senior right fielder Spencer Bartel led the Huskies with 4 RBIs. Kelley and senior catcher Colin Summerhill were not far behind Bartel with three RBIs each. Both Kelley and Summerhill connected for RBI doubles.

NIU finished its day hitting an even .500, going 17-for-34 as a team and scoring in every inning except the fourth frame.

FAST START

The Huskies wasted no time jumping on Northwestern State freshman pitcher Bryce Leonard, scoring seven runs and batting through the order in the first inning. Leonard lasted just one inning, finishing his day with six earned runs on six hits and walking two batters. 

After a clean top of the first from Brachbill, nine of the first 10 Huskie batters reached base to open up the bottom of the first inning.

“It was nice to come out and be able to play with the lead,” Copeland said via NIU Athletics. “I really like our offense when we’re aggressive. When we’re swinging like we did one through nine tonight, having good at-bats, taking our walks, finding ways to get on base, we have a chance to be pretty good offensively.”

Summerhill drove home the game’s first run on an RBI single, scoring freshman center fielder Charlie Parcell. Bartel and Parcell delivered the big blows of the inning, each recording RBI singles. Junior third baseman Christian Seegers also drove in a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly. 

NIU added seven more runs and led by as many as 13 runs as they cruised the rest of the way to a 14-4 win. 

UP NEXT

The Huskies’ next game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. NIU will try for the massive upset of the No. 3 ranked Louisiana State University Tigers. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available via StatBroadcast.