DeKALB | The NIU baseball team is building momentum.

After opening up its MAC schedule with a sweep of Ohio last weekend, the NIU (14-9, 5-1) baseball team traveled to Akron (12-8, 2-4) and took two of three games from the Zips over the weekend.

With the series tied at one game each, it took 11 innings for the Huskies to pull out a 7-4 win in Sunday’s series finale.

“Our seniors really came up big tonight,” said Head Coach Ed Mathey. “It was that get-out day today, and to win a road series in the MAC is big.”

Despite letting a 3-2 eighth-inning lead slip away, NIU rallied in the top of the ninth with back-to-back two-out hits from Jordin Hood and Jeff Thomas to tie the game at four.

In the 11th, Jesse Seykora, Scott Simon and Danny Reed all singled to start the inning en route to a three-run frame. After a shaky eighth inning, NIU closer Matt German pitched a perfect ninth, 10th and 11th, and also helped his own cause by getting an RBI single in the 11th.

“I just closed my eyes and got lucky,” German jokingly said in reference to his hit.

Once again, Trevor Feeney was the story in Game 1. The junior right-hander allowed three runs, scattered seven hits and walked none in his second consecutive complete game to lead the Huskies to an 8-3 win.

“Playing our first weekend on the road in conference play, Trevor did what you want your Friday starter to do,” Mathey said. “Offensively we were opportunistic, did a lot of little things well and took the momentum after falling behind early.”

Despite senior Scott Simon making his school-record 60th double of his career, NIU dropped its first MAC game of the season, 5-0 on Saturday. This time, Akron pitcher Frank Turocy went the distance, giving up seven hits with seven strike-outs while walking none in a 5-0 Zips victory.

“Their pitcher did a real nice job keeping our hitters off balance,” Mathey said. “We were unable to get many leadoff guys on and the opportunities we had came with one or two out.”

Goose eggs lit up the scoreboard until the fourth, when Akron plated three runs off of NIU starter Brandon Copp. Akron added an insurance run in the fifth and one in the seventh, allowing Turocy to put it in cruise control.

NIU has now won its first two MAC series’ this year, with pitching and clutch hitting continuing to be the key ingredients for success thus far.