NIU baseball (2-4) lost to the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks (3-3) on Sunday by a score of 11-1, struggling on both ends of the ball.
The Huskies recorded only 2 hits for the second straight game, after falling 3-0 against the Redhawks on Saturday.
“We have to play better baseball,“ said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “We kicked it around just like we did that second game at Nicholls State and it led to a big inning for them in that third inning. Just hard to win baseball games against a program like that. We have to find a way to be better. Not just defensively, but we have to figure some things out this week.”
The Huskies went down early, as a series of base hits gave the Redhawks a 1-0 lead before Huskie junior pitcher Max Vaisvila took the mound.
NIU tied the game in the top of the second inning when junior infielder Will Couchman scored off an error by Redhawks sophomore second baseman Brooks Kettering.
The Redhawks blew open the scoring in the third inning, scoring 7 runs to take an 8-1 lead over the Huskies.
Vaisvila gave up 8 runs in his outing, two of which were earned. He struck out three batters and allowed no walks in 3 innings.
Redhawks pitchers limited the Huskies to 2 hits, while allowing only 1 walk.
“They do a really good job of attacking the strike zone,” said Copeland of Southeast Missouri State’s pitching staff. “They did that on Friday and we were able to be on top of it and do some damage, the results speak for themselves. Just falling behind in too many counts and not being able to compete enough to work our way on base. Missing fastballs, being too passive at the plate, it ends up leading to too many 0-2, 1-2 counts. When you’re facing a good pitching staff with good stuff, they’re able to push you away.”
Graduate student pitcher Haden Dow struckout eight Huskies in 5 innings pitched. The only hit he allowed was a leadoff single to start the game from NIU sophomore outfielder Charlie Parcell.
The only other hit for the Huskies came in the seventh inning from senior catcher Kaden Kosobucki, who hit a leadoff double to start the inning.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Zach Hise and junior pitcher Nick Bassi each pitched a scoreless inning out of the Huskie bullpen, recording 1 strikeout each.
After a 2 run fifth inning, a Redhawk run in the eight was enough to end the game.
UP NEXT
The Huskies begin their third series of the season at 3 p.m. Friday in Edwardsville against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
“The good thing about playing and seeing your team perform one or the other is it gives you a really good idea of what we need to be better at,” Copeland said. “Our attention to detail this week without coaching staff will be extremely immense. We’ve got some things that we need to be better at, otherwise it’s not going to be much different next weekend. I’m excited about the challenge of getting our guys better and I know they are too.”
