NIU baseball opened its home schedule with a 17-13 slugfest victory over Miami University on Friday, capped off by senior catcher Ivan Dahlberg’s walkoff grand slam.
“I knew he was going to stay with the cutter in and I just sat on it and got it,” Dahlberg said. “Its just a benefit of all my teammates getting on base and giving me a shot to even do that. So all goes to them.”
Dahlberg slugged his second and third home runs of the season for his only two hits of the game and tied for the team lead with five RBIs on the day.
Prior to Dahlberg’s slam, the RedHawks intentionally walked senior outfielder Caden Robertson to load the bases for the left-handed catcher.
“I was just like, ‘Ok, let’s go’”, Dahlberg said. “I don’t want to say it was a bad choice by them (Miami). Caden’s one of the hottest hitters in the country but in my head I was like “let’s see what I’m made of.”
Graduate student outfielder/first baseman Gavin Baldwin tied with Dahlberg for the team lead in RBIs on the day, driving in five runs on two hits.
Every member of the Huskies lineup on Friday got on base, with junior outfielder Charlie Parcell finishing as the only hitter to not record a hit.
Junior catcher Cooper Cohn and sophomore infielder Nolan Sandee both slugged their first home runs of the season in the home opener.
Cohn hit a three-run shot in the third inning which gave the Huskies a 6-3 lead at the time.
Sandee’s home run, a solo shot, came in the sixth inning that made the score 8-7 in favor of the Huskies.
“It just comes from the mentality that we’re not out of the fight,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “We really believe in our offense, I think it’s been just okay this year. Today was an example of what we can do against a team like that. I thought our outs were loud, we took our walks, it didn’t feel like we struck out a lot.”
The Huskies used seven different pitchers in their series opener, with junior pitcher Danny Cihocki getting the start.
Despite a rocky start where he surrendered seven earned runs, Cihocki still leads NIU’s starters in ERA at 3.82 which also ranks ninth in the MAC.
Sophomore pitcher Carter Cox, the Huskies’ usual Friday starter, made his first appearance out of the bullpen in the contest and his first since last season.
The southpaw entered the game in the ninth inning with the score tied at 13 and two men on base. Cox walked the first batter but was able to wiggle out of the jam, recording the final out of the inning on a ground ball.
Cox threw 1.1 innings in the contest, striking out three batters and earning the win.
“That’s a really good offense over there,” Copeland said. “We have our hands full all weekend. They do a really good job. They’ve been doing it a little bit longer than us, but that’s why every out matters. You just never know which outs are going to be the ones that decide the game in favor or against you. Despite the scoreboard looking a little ugly, everybody in our dugout knows giving up 13 runs on a Friday is not acceptable. But you have to play the game in front of you and we came out on top today.”
UP NEXT
The Huskies will continue their series against the RedHawks at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ralph McKenzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. The game will be streamed on NIU All-Access and live stats will be available at SIDEARM Sports.
