Securing its third winning weekend of the season, NIU baseball (7-4) took a 14-8 series-finale win over Lindenwood University (5-7) on Sunday.
The Huskies’ 14-run offensive outburst against Lindenwood accounted for NIU’s highest-scoring contest this season.
Seven of NIU’s 14 runs came in the final two innings, with the Huskies tying the game in the eighth on an RBI hit by pitch by junior catcher Cooper Cohn.
NIU took the lead in the eighth inning thanks to an RBI fielder’s choice by junior infielder Vinny Spotofora.
Four players on the Huskies recorded at least two runs batted in on Sunday, with senior outfielder Caden Robertson leading the way with a season-high four RBIs.
Robertson blasted a three-run home run in the ninth inning to secure the Huskies’ victory.
“We have some guys that are swinging the bat a little bit better than what their numbers are saying,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “Some of them found some holes, Marcus and Caden came up with those huge hits in the ninth to give us some insurance. You know how much we talk about our offense and how good we feel about it and we really feel like it;s just a matter of time before we click on all cylinders. So, I’m not surprised by the 14 runs. You kind of come to expect it a little bit after last year.”
Despite surrendering eight runs in the victory, the Huskies bullpen showed a strong performance against Lindenwood.
NIU used seven pitchers and did not allow a run after the fourth inning, as three pitchers combined to pitch the final five innings.
Senior pitcher Nick Bassi pitched a bulk of those scoreless innings, tossing three innings without allowing a hit and walking two batters. Bassi also picked up four strikeouts.
Junior pitcher Josh Loren and senior pitcher Blake Gaskey closed out the Huskies victory, each tossing an inning.
Loren threw a perfect eighth inning and has still yet to allow a run so far this season.
Gaskey finished the game, surrendering one hit during his inning of work before closing the book on the Lions.
“Three guys stepped up between Nick (Bassi), Josh (Loren) and Blake (Gaskey),” Copeland said. “Early in the game, no matter who we went to it felt like it was the same thing, free passes and it was just really difficult to keep them off the scoreboard. But we stuck with it and finally got an answer out of the bullpen with Nick’s outing and then the offense was tremendous.”
Eight of the nine members of NIU’s starting lineup recorded a hit in the victory, with Spotofora being the only player to go hitless.
Senior infielder Cole Smith, the team leader in hits this season, added three more hits to his ledger, including his team-leading third triple of the season.
Junior outfielder Marcus Romero, who leads the Huskies with a .367 batting average, collected two hits, two RBIs and scored three runs on Sunday.
Junior outfielder Charlie Parcell reached base three times and scored two runs. Parcell recorded two hits, one of which being a double, as well as a walk.
“We’ll head to the bus on Thursday, and we’ll feel good about where we’re at,” Copeland said. “But, we headed into MAC play last year with a winning record and we let it get away from us early. We lost our opening series to Kent State and then we got swept on back-to-back weekends. So, we’ll enjoy the win tonight but it’s back to work tomorrow. Despite where we’re at, there’s a lot of things we have to get better at.”
UP NEXT
The Huskies will begin Mid-American Conference play at 2 p.m. Friday against Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Live stats for the game will be available via Stat Broadcast.
