Sparking a three-game losing streak, NIU baseball (12-21, 3-11 MAC) were unable to stage a comeback against the Ball State University Cardinals (25-11, 12-2 MAC) in an 8-3 loss Saturday.
“The same thing that happened yesterday (Friday) is what did us in today (Saturday),” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “We let them get a lead out of the gate, let them extend the lead before we even got a chance to get going offensively. By the time you look up, you’re down pretty big and just playing catchup again.”
The Huskies conceded 1 run in the bottom of the first inning, before a 2-run home run in the third inning extended the Cardinals’ lead.
Senior outfielder JP Gauthier got the Huskies on the board in the fourth, coming home off a wild pitch from Cardinals senior pitcher Jacob Hatlaub. Hatluab leads the MAC in strikeouts, while also posting the lowest ERA in the conference.
Ball State came up with a 5-run fifth inning to extend its lead to seven, forcing Huskie sophomore pitcher Ty Brachbill out of the game.
Brachbill allowed 8 runs on 8 hits while walking four and striking out three in 4.1 innings of work, earning the loss on the day.
Senior infielder/outfielder Andrew Smart fouled out to second base in the top of the sixth, earning the only RBI for the Huskies when junior infielder Will Couchman scored the Huskies’ second run.
NIU scored their final run in the ninth inning, when freshman outfielder Jalen House scored an unearned run when junior catcher Logan Gregorio reached base on an error from the Cardinals.
Gregorio leads the team with an 11 game hitting streak, joining Couchman as the only two Huskies with multiple hits in the game.
NIU’s trio of left-handed relievers pitched 4.2 scoreless innings for the Huskies, with junior Nick Bassi, sophomore Alex Day and junior Clayton Taylor combining for 3 strikeouts while allowing 2 hits.
“Those guys are more than talented enough to get outs at this level,” Copeland said about NIU’s bullpen. “I think when one guy seems to struggle, it seems contagious, and it doesn’t need to be that way. When one guy does well, they all seem to feed off that as well. We’re just trying to get some more consistency out of them, but they’re all more than capable of getting guys out.”
The Huskies will wrap up the series against Ball State at noon Sunday in Muncie, Indiana. The game will be streamed on Ball State All-Access and live stats will be updated on SideArm Stats.
