NIU baseball (12-20, 3-10 MAC) lost a close battle with the MAC’s top team, the Ball State Cardinals, in a 7-5 loss on Friday.
“I really liked how we played, I liked how we competed,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “Adam (Brouwer) struggled a little bit today but our bullpen was outstanding. It’s just a tough loss, I liked how we played and we’ll feel really good about tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday.”
Ball State currently sits atop the MAC with a conference record of 11-2 and an overall record of 24-11.
The Cardinal’s pitching staff is among the best in the conference as the team’s ERA ranks first at 5.20 and in strikeouts with 302.
“They’re (Ball State) gonna celebrate a win,” Copeland said. “We have to get a better start tomorrow, we fought back but it’s tough to play catch up all the time, so we have to pitch better early and keep those guys off the barrel. But I thought we competed our tails off and I think we’ll go into tomorrow feeling really good about our chances.”
The ace of NIU’s pitching staff, redshirt junior pitcher Adam Brouwer, toed the rubber for Friday’s series opener.
Ball State countered with its ace, sophomore pitcher Keegan Johnson, who ranks third in the MAC in ERA at 3.08.
Neither starter had their best outing of the season, with both pitchers exiting by the fifth inning.
Brouwer totaled 4 innings pitched, giving up 6 runs on 8 hits while striking out 4 batters. Brouwer still sits atop the MAC in strikeouts with 51 and Johnson sits in second with 50.
The Huskies’ bullpen put together four innings of one run baseball following Brouwer’s departure from the game in the fifth inning.
The Huskies lefty pairing of junior pitcher John Lyman and freshman pitcher Carter Cox combined for 4 innings of work, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and striking out seven Cardinals.
“Ball State has a very lefty dominated lineup,” Copeland said. “Carter (Cox) keeps getting better every single time out. He shows signs every week of being a really good left-handed arm at this level. And today was the best he’s looked all season. He was able to throw three pitches for strikes whenever he wanted and he won a couple big time battles as well.”
The Huskies, who came into this series ranked first in the MAC in home runs with 52, only slugged one long ball in the series opener.
NIU’s lone home run came from its ninth man in the lineup, sophomore outfielder Charlie Parcell, in the ninth inning.
Parcell put up the best offensive performance for the Huskies, going 2/3 with a walk while adding 3 RBIs, leading the team, and 2 runs scored to go along with his home run.
“Charlie (Parcell) has some sneaky power,” Copeland said. “He was all over the barrel today, he lined out a couple times and of course had that big home run in the ninth to give us a chance. So anytime you get that type of production out of a guy that deep in the lineup, it goes well for the rest of the offense.”
Junior catcher Logan Gregorio extended his hitting streak to double digits, now holding the longest hitting streak on the team after senior outfielder JP Gauthier’s 13 game hitting streak was snapped on Friday.
Gregorio finished the day with 2 hits at the plate, joining Parcell as the only Huskies with multiple hits.
The Huskies will continue their weekend series at noon Saturday against Ball State. Live stats will be available at SIDEARM Stats and the game will be streamed on Ball State All-Access.
