NIU baseball (12-22, 3-12 MAC) was blown out 14-4 by the Ball State University Cardinals (26-11, 13-2 MAC) on Sunday.
“We have to play better baseball and then find a way to play better defense,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “We got to figure that out within the next 48 hours.”
Ball State senior utility player Nick Husovsky started the scoring early in the first inning with a two-run home run. Junior outfielder/pitcher Blake Bevis homered in the same inning to make the score 3-0.
The NIU offense showed signs of life in the second inning with an RBI triple from sophomore outfielder Charlie Parcell.
The Cardinals answered with an RBI double from senior infielder Alex Richter. Junior outfielder Gavin Balius then reached on a fielder’s choice and scored a run to give Ball State a 5-1 to close the third inning.
NIU junior infielder Will Couchman hit a three-run homer to right-center in the fifth inning, trimming the Huskies’ deficit and making the score 9-4.
Junior pitcher Max Vaisvila made the start on the mound for the game and did not settle in well. He let up 7 hits, 2 walks and 5 earned runs in only 2.1 innings of work. He earned the loss in the game.
“He’s (Vaisvila’s) been struggling a little bit,” Copeland said. “He’s been trying to find a way to pitch deep in the game and settle in.”
The rest of the bullpen struggled quite a bit as well. Sophomore pitcher Danny Cihocki relieved Vaisvila in the second inning and did not do well either. He gave up 4 hits, 1 walk and 4 earned runs.
Overall, the Huskies combined for 16 hits, 14 earned runs, 6 walks and 4 strikeouts.
UP NEXT
The Huskies will take on the Northwestern University Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Evanston, Illinois. The game will be livestreamed on B1G+ and live stats will be updated on StatBroadcast.
