NIU baseball took down Mid-American Conference regular season champion, the University of Miami RedHawks, in a thrilling 6-5 victory in 15 innings.
“Just an outstanding baseball game between two really good teams,” NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland said. “It took everybody, we threw six different arms, every one of them threw the ball well, just can’t say enough about our toughness, our resolve, the ability to find a way to win against a really tough opponent. So we’ll enjoy this one for a few hours tonight and get back at it tomorrow.”
The Huskies now move to a perfect 4-0 against the RedHawks this season, who not only sported the conference’s best record this year but are also the reigning MAC Tournament champs.
NIU’s pitching staff was able to deliver 15 innings of solid work throughout the marathon, stranding 19 runners on base, while leaving eight runners stranded in extras.
The RedHawks offense is first in the MAC in batting average, home runs, runs, total bases, walks, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Miami hit just 0.271 in the game and struck out 18 times against Huskie pitching.
Sophomore pitcher Carter Cox started the second game of the tournament for the Huskies, showcasing a gritty performance, throwing 121 pitches in 5.1 innings.
Cox tied his season-high in strikeouts with 12 while giving up two earned runs in his outing.
“There’s nobody that wants the ball more in our program than Carter,” Copeland said. “He just loves to compete, loves to be out there, and that’s a really good offense. You look at their numbers and one through nine, how impressive they are. And I thought Carter did a great job navigating that lineup and he had some bad ball luck there in the third and fourth innings, but pitching to the sixth inning gave us a chance, and I just can’t say enough about his performance, but that’s what Carter does.”
Senior pitcher Blake Gaskey continued to display why he was amongst the Huskies’ most reliable arms out of the bullpen, delivering 3.1 innings of work. Despite this, he surrendered the game-tying home run in the eighth inning.
The Huskies’ bullpen provided six innings of scoreless work in extra innings against a formidable RedHawks offense.
Junior utility/pitcher Cooper Cohn, who had not pitched since high school prior to this season, turned in his best pitching performance of the season when he stifled Miami’s bats with four straight scoreless innings to open the extra frames.
Cohn’s four-inning outing was his longest of the season while throwing a season-high 70 pitches.
The junior utility man’s previous highs in those categories were two innings and 30 pitches.
“They’re so left-handed dominant too, and on paper that can be a pretty tough matchup,” Copeland said. “But he’s got a really live arm, a good fastball, he can land the breaking ball, almost at will, and every time he goes back out there, you’re like, ‘okay, are we making a mistake here,’ but he just kept competing, kept them off balance, and made some big pitches when he needed to. But Cooper is an extremely selfless guy. We made the decision to get him on the mound a couple months ago, and what a weapon he’s been for a bullpen. The numbers speak for themselves, and the fun thing about Cooper is that he keeps getting better, as he keeps getting out there.”
Senior pitcher Nick Bassi closed out the RedHawks with his second save of the season, striking out two batters in Miami’s half of the 15th.
“It’s huge,” Copeland said. “Our starting pitching has been excellent all season long and Carter was really good again today. But, if you’re going to make a run in a tournament like this, you need some guys in the bullpen to not only step up but throw the ball well and get some length. We got that out of Blake and Cooper. Just impressive outings from all those guys and they just kept making pitches. So just really proud of our pitching staff and how far they’ve some.”
The Huskies’ offense was able to come through in extras to pull out the win, but struggled at times against Miami’s bullpen.
In extra innings, the Huskies scored the lone run but went just 4/18 while leaving five runners on base.
Graduate first baseman Gavin Baldwin slugged his 14th home run of the season which now ties him for the team lead.
Baldwin now has two home runs in this tournament and has driven in four runs to bring his total to 52 on the year.
Sophomore infielder Nolan Sandee had a big hit early for NIU, when he tied the game in the fifth inning with a triple, giving him his 24th and 25th RBIs of the season.
Senior catcher Ivan Dahlberg delivered the back-breaking hit for NIU in the 15th, poking an opposite field single into left field that put NIU up for good.
This is the second time this season Dahlberg has delivered a game winning hit in extra innings against Miami, when he slugged a walk-off grand slam in the Huskies’ home opener in March.
“That’s just what Ivan does,” Copeland said. “The numbers are what they are, but when the game’s on the line, the moment’s big, I don’t think there’s anybody in our lineup we want more at the plate than Ivan. Just if you watch this team closely, that was the guy that was gonna go with that big hit, and he came through, came through for us again.”
NIU will continue its quest for its first MAC title at 3:30 p.m. on Friday against the winner of the second quarterfinal between Kent State University and University of Toledo.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats for the game will be available via SIDEARM Stats.
