Baseball steps up with third conference win

Starting+junior+pitcher+Joe+Hawks+delivers+to+the+plate.+Hawks+pitched+3+innings%2C+giving+up+three+earned+runs+and+a+walk+against+Milwaukee+on+Tuesday.

Starting junior pitcher Joe Hawks delivers to the plate. Hawks pitched 3 innings, giving up three earned runs and a walk against Milwaukee on Tuesday.

By Thomas Hiley III

Baseball (12-23, 6-5 MAC) won its third conference series of the season over the weekend against Western Michigan University (9-23, 2-7 MAC), taking the first two games and losing the final one.

The Broncos struck first in the bottom of the fifth, getting two runs from junior infielder Grant Miller and freshman catcher Jesse Forestell. The Huskies won game one of the three game series by a score of 5-2, scoring all of their runs in the final inning.

NIU followed its game one win with a blowout, routing the Broncos 17-3. It was the team’s strongest offensive showing of the season and its biggest win. Western Michigan had its fair share of good hitting with 13 hits, but the Huskies’ offense proved to be too much, largely thanks to two seven-run innings.

With a chance for a sweep on Sunday, the Huskies scored 12 runs but couldn’t stop Western Michigan, falling 15-12.

“Overall it was a very good week for us this weekend,” said NIU head coach Mike Kunigonis. “We did what we came here to do. [It was a] very successful week.

“We don’t look too far ahead of us. We just focus on playing Milwaukee [today], and once we get to that, we look to play well Friday against Buffalo … .”