NIU baseball opened its weekend series against Butler University with a 17-10 slugfest victory.
The Huskies record now sits at 9-14 as they picked up their eighth road win of the season.
“That’s a tough win, to go down early and then fight all the way back and have a back-and-forth game, and we eventually put it out of reach at the end there,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland.
Redshirt junior pitcher Adam Brouwer got the start for the Huskies, totalling 5.2 innings pitched while allowing 7 earned runs on 10 hits to pick up his second win of the season.
Brouwer entered the weekend leading the MAC in strikeouts with 39, adding five on Friday to bring his season total to 44.
“Adam (Brouwer) wasn’t extremely sharp, I would say we didn’t play well behind him, he made some mistakes with two strikes and they got hit,” Copeland said. “They had some big swings on him, but he battled in the sixth and gave us a chance.”
After using 13 different pitchers during its two midweek games, the Huskies were able to use just two pitchers in their win Friday.
After Brouwer exited midway through the sixth inning, sophomore pitcher Danny Cihocki entered the game out of the bullpen.
Cihocki totaled 3.1 innings of relief in the ballgame, totaling a long save for the Huskies. The right-hander gave up only 2 runs on 4 hits while picking up 2 strikeouts in the outing.
“He (Cihocki) was really good, and once he already pitched the eighth, we decided to just roll with him and let him finish the game,” Copeland said. “We know he’s probably not gonna be available the rest of the weekend.”
NIU had a strong offensive showing in Friday’s win, putting up 17 runs, the team’s second highest run total in a game this season.
The Huskies’ offense was fueled by home runs from junior catcher Logan Gregorio, sophomore outfielder Charlie Parcell and senior outfielder JP Gauthier.
NIU had seven players in the game with at least 1 run batted in, with three players having at least 3 RBIs.
“We’ve been able to drive the ball all year long,” Copeland said. “I think what we have been looking for is more consistency, especially trying to stay in the strike zone and take what the pitchers are gonna give us.”
Despite its impressive offensive showing, the Huskies still had many missed opportunities, leaving 13 runners on base.
Gregorio’s ninth inning home run was his eighth on the season, tying him for the team lead in long balls with senior outfielder Gavin Baldwin.
The junior catcher also totaled 4 RBIs in the ball game, bringing his season total to 30, good for first on the team.
Gauthier put together his best offensive game of the season, slugging two home runs in NIU’s winning effort. The Illinois State University transfer logged a 4/6 day at the plate, driving in 4 runners.
Parcell was another Huskie to go deep against Butler on Friday, going 1/2 at the plate with 3 walks, 2 RBIs and his second home run of the year.
Senior infielder/outfielder Andrew Smart was another key contributor to the Huskies victory, going 3/7 at the plate with 3 RBIs.
“We just have to move on to tomorrow (Saturday),” Copeland said. “We have an early start so we just have to regroup and get ready for tomorrow. So we’ll enjoy the win today but when the head hits the pillow tonight we have to get ready to go win a series tomorrow.”
Freshman infielder Nolan Sandee exited the game in the fifth inning after being hit in the face with a pitch. Sandee was 0/1 on the day with a walk and a hit by pitch.
“He took a fastball to the face like a champ,” Copeland said about Sandee via text.
The Huskies will continue their weekend series against Butler with a double header starting at 10 a.m. Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana. Live stats for the game will be available on StatBroadcast.
