DeKALB – NIU baseball’s pitching staff threw a shutout in the Huskies’ 5-0 win to open its weekend series against Ohio University.
Redshirt junior pitcher Adam Brouwer continued his impressive season thus far with a 7 inning outing on Friday.
The Mid-American Conference strikeout leader’s final statline for the day included 5 hits, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts and 0 walks while earning his third victory of the season.
“I think he (Brouwer) just kinda took what the hitters were giving him,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “They showed that if you made some good pitches early in the count, they were going to continue to be aggressive and get themselves out. He settled in nicely, had a couple 1-2-3 innings and avoided the free pass.”
Brouwer has now lowered his season ERA to 4.00, and has totaled 47 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched.
Through two games this week, the Huskies’ bullpen has shown signs of improvement, allowing just one run in 11 innings pitched.
The Huskies used 6 pitchers in its 2-1 win over Purdue University on Tuesday and only used one pitcher out of the bullpen on Friday, allowing no runs in two innings.
Sophomore pitcher Danny Cihocki was the lone relief pitcher to appear in Friday’s win, totaling 2 innings of work while allowing 2 hits, walking 1 batter and striking out three.
“They’re (the bullpen) just tired of being called out,” Copeland said. “They’re tired of being the reason why we’re struggling and we want guys to take things personal. We’re all trying to do the same thing, which is win baseball games.”
Seven of the nine players in the Huskies’ starting lineup totaled at least one hit on Friday, with sophomore outfielder Charlie Parcell leading the team by going 2/3 with a walk and a run scored.
Junior catcher Logan Gregorio launched his 11th home run of the season and now leads the team in the category. Gregorio went 1/5 at the plate with 3 runs batted in, bringing his season total up to 37, also leading the team.
The left handed slugger now sits in the top-five for home runs and RBIs in the MAC, sitting in third place for long balls and fourth in RBIs.
“I was pushed in the beginning of the year to make some adjustments to my swing,” Gregorio said. “I’ve been really able to drive the ball better because of the coaching and I’ve also been more aggressive at the plate, which has helped me too.”
Senior outfielder Gavin Baldwin finished the day 0/4 with a walk but has been a key piece in the Huskies offensive success along with Gregorio.
Baldwin also sits in the top-five for home runs in the MAC, with 10, as well as coming in at number seven in the conference for RBIs with 33.
“I feel like I don’t have to do too much,” Gregorio said. “He (Baldwin) is an incredible hitter, watching him during the game and during batting practice, the balls that come off his bat are unbelievable. It’s a blessing to have that guy in our lineup.”
Sophomore catcher Cooper Cohn drove in the first 2 runs of the game on a two-run single in the fourth inning. Cohn finished the day 1/2 at the plate with 2 RBI’s and a hit by pitch.
“Cooper (Cohn) has kind of batted everywhere in our lineup his first two years here and we kind of feel like we have a nice little weapon down there toward the bottom of the order, a guy that can drive the ball, hit some doubles, and that was big for us,” Copeland said.
The Huskies will continue their weekend series at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. Live stats will be available via SIDEARM Stats and the game will be streamed on NIU All-Access.
