Baseball continued its strong play in the MAC this weekend as it won two out of three games against Miami (Ohio) at Ralph McKinzie Field.

The Huskies (18-23, 13-5 MAC) took game one on Friday, 3-1, behind freshman Jordan Ruckman’s best performance this season. Ruckman pitched his first collegiate complete game, giving up one run on two hits and two walks while striking out five batters.

In the second innings with two outs, the Huskies rallied to score all three of their runs. With the bases loaded, senior Jamison Wells singled to drive in junior Joe Battaglia. Freshman Tommy Hook followed that with an RBI single of his own, driving in freshman Brian Sisler.

The following batter, junior Alex Klonowski, drove in junior Nate Ruzich on a fielding error by the shortstop to make the score 3-0.

The Huskies won Saturday’s game, 4-3, in dramatic fashion. After blowing their 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth, the Huskies were able to rally back in the bottom of the frame with two runs.

With runners on first and third with two outs, Wells tied up the game, 3-3, with a single up the middle, scoring freshman Danny Seiton from third base. After Hook reached on a fielding error by the shortstop, Klonowski came up with a walkoff single to left field that drove in freshman Brandon Mallder from third.

“I was proud of out team, proud of their efforts coming back in that game,” said coach Ed Mathey. “Because you know what? You give two runs and the lead in the ninth inning, it’s easy to just sit back on your heels and the momentum is in the other dugout, and we fought back.”

Junior Eli Anderson earned his sixth win of the season as he pitched his fifth complete game, all of which have come in MAC play. He gave up three earned runs as he scattered 12 hits and three walks while recording two strikeouts.

In Sunday’s game the Huskies were looking to complete the three-game sweep, but didn’t get off to the start they would have liked to as they fell, 6-4.

In the first two innings, the Redhawks scored a run in each frame to take a 2-0 lead. The Redhawks scored three more runs over the next five innings to lead the Huskies 5-0 in the seventh inning.

In the bottom half of the seventh the Huskies’ bats went to work. They scored four runs in the inning, cutting the lead to 5-4, as Klonowski came up with a big two RBI single to left field.

In the ninth inning, Max Andresen gave the RedHawks a bigger cushion as he hit a solo home run to increase their lead, 6-4.

The Huskies threatened to tie the game in both the eighth and ninth innings but came up short as they were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

“We did have opportunities at the end to at least even this thing up,” Mathey said. “We were just a little bit short. We gave away too much early on, and that’s the thing about baseball: It’s definitely a cumulative game. Runs in the first count as much as runs in the eighth or ninth inning; they just aren’t as dramatic.”

With its two wins this weekend, NIU holds a four-game lead over Eastern Michigan and sits atop the MAC West Division.