Dropping its first midweek action of the 2026 season, NIU baseball (2-2) fell to East Carolina University (2-3) by a score of 11-5 on Wednesday.
The Huskies used a total of 10 different pitchers against ECU, with freshman pitcher Mason Orton totaling the longest outing of the game at just two innings.
Orton made his first collegiate start in the contest, giving up one run in his two innings of work while walking five ECU batters.
Walks were a problem for NIU pitching in the loss, as the Huskies’ pitching staff surrendered 12 free passes as well as a hit by pitch.
“That’s not a recipe for success,” head coach Ryan Copeland said. “I thought their hitters did an excellent job with their zone discipline. They didn’t give us a whole lot. And when the opponent makes you throw pitches inside the zone, sometimes it gets tough, especially in these midweek games.”
The Huskies also committed two timely errors in the game, with the biggest blow coming in the fourth inning.
An error by senior infielder Will Couchman in the fourth inning led to a two-out, three-run home run that put ECU up 7-4.
Sophomore infielder Nolan Sandee also committed an error in the fourth inning, his team-leading third of the season.
“That’s something you can’t do,” Copeland said. “You can’t give a team four and five outs in an inning. And in the fourth inning we did, and we paid for it, and that was really the difference in the game. You just can’t give really good opponents chances like that. Those extra outs, they’re going to come back to get you.”
Senior pitcher Gavin Micklinghoff was the pitcher who surrendered the three-run home run in the fourth inning and was tagged with the loss.
Micklinghoff totaled one inning of work, giving up four runs, three of them earned, on two hits, two walks and a hit by pitch.
Junior pitcher Josh Loren was the only NIU pitcher to pitch at least one inning on Wednesday and not give up any runs.
The junior southpaw totaled 1.1 innings of work in the contest without allowing a single baserunner.
Eight of the 11 runs scored for ECU came with two outs, and the biggest blow came in the seventh on a three-run double to extend its lead to 10-5.
The Huskies’ offense started the game hot, scoring five runs in the first five innings. The offense cooled down in the second half of the contest, going scoreless in the sixth inning through the ninth and leaving 10 runners stranded for the game.
“I think (ECU) is a really talented team,” Copeland said. “A team that’s been knocking on the door of Omaha every year for about 10 to 15 years now. So, they have some real arms out there. They have guys that have some really good stuff and they just made some pitches on us when we had some chances. I don’t think there’s anything we did or didn’t do. I loved our approach, we just didn’t get the big hit there late in the game.”
Couchman, as well as senior outfielder Caden Robertson both slugged their first home runs of the season in Wednesday’s action.
Couchman went 1-for-4, with his only hit being his second inning long ball.
Robertson, who hit 23 home runs last year at the Division II level, slugged his first home run with the Huskies, a two-run opposite field blast to make the score 3-1 in the second inning.
UP NEXT
The Huskies’ next game will be at 2 p.m. Friday against the University of South Carolina-Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available via SIDEARM Sports.
