NIU baseball (2-2) dropped a 3-0 game against the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks (2-3) on Saturday, after winning its last two games by double digit margins.
The Huskies were held to 2 hits over nine innings without recording a run.
“It was a well played game on both sides,” NIU baseball coach Ryan Copeland said. “Both teams pitched it well, played good defense. We knew they’d come out and throw and punch or two after we got them pretty good last night. Ultimately, they threw one there in the fourth inning, a 3 spot was enough to get it done tonight. We’ve got to find a way to get the bats going and respond tomorrow, but overall very satisfied with how we played today.”
Sophomore pitcher Ty Brachbill tied a career-high 8 strikeouts in 5 innings of work, while allowing 5 hits and 3 earned runs.
Brachbill held the Redhawks scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning, when a home run by senior infielder Bryce Cannon started the scoring.
Redhawk senior infielder Caleb Corbin then hit a single to get on base, and was brought home when junior catcher Liam Forsyth hit a two-out triple. Junior infielder Andrew Ramirez hit a single, bringing Forsyth home and putting the Redhawks up 3-0.
Brachbill pitched a scoreless fifth, before sophomore pitcher Danny Cihocki came in for the sixth inning.
Cihocki pitched 3 innings, recording 5 strikeouts and holding the Redhawks scoreless.
“In today’s game, you’ve got to strike guys out on the mound if you’re going to be successful,” Copeland said. “It’s something we were very intentional about in the recruitment process, ever since our staff took over here a few years ago. Those guys were excellent today. Ty (Brachbill) did a great job of bouncing back after a pretty tough start last week against Nicholls State and then Danny (Cihocki) was lights-out out of the bullpen to at least give us a chance.”
Senior pitcher Brian Strange started on the mound for the Redhawks, shutting down the Huskies’ offense over 6 innings.
The Huskies got their best chance in the seventh inning, stranding 3 runners without scoring a run.
Senior outfielder Gavin Baldwin recorded a single, before advancing to second when sophomore catcher Cooper Cohn took a walk. Huskie junior infielder Ben Loyd came to first on a walk, loading the bases with senior Kaden Kosobucki up to bat. Junior pitcher Nathan Mertens came to the mound for the Redhawks, striking out Kosobucki to end the inning.
When asked about the ups and downs of the offense, Copeland attributed the struggles to the new look roster.
“I told our guys after the game that we need to do a better job of being ourselves and taking the things that we do during practice and even pregame,” Copeland said. “Just being comfortable being the same exact type of hitter that we need to be out there on the field. We’ve got a lot of new guys and a lot of guys playing Division I baseball for the first time and seeing better arms. I think they’re just getting pitched to a little bit better. Just trying to find a way to get them more comfortable in the box so we can be a little more consistent offensively. You can’t play up and down like we are offensively and expect to go win a whole bunch of games.”
UP NEXT
The Huskies will have a chance to win their first series of the season against Southeast Missouri at 4 p.m. Sunday at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. Live stats will be available on StatBroadcast.
