DeKALB | Jordin Hood has been on a meteoric rise.

When opportunity knocked for the reigning MAC West Player of the Week in the sixth inning Saturday, the freshman second baseman rose to the occasion with a clutch two-out game winning single that secured a 4-3 win over MAC East-leading Miami.

The hard-earned single didn’t come easy for Hood, though.

Miami starting-pitcher Connor Graham had scouts drooling with a fastball consistently in the mid 90s.

Pitch after pitch whizzed by until Hood finally ripped a solid single up the middle to score senior first baseman Scott Simon.

“I was talking with Coach [Steve] Joslyn after the game,” NIU coach Ed Mathey said. “He said it was one of the best at-bats he’s seen in five years in terms of fighting off pitches, and then taking the ball up the middle.”

The approach for Hood was simple. He said he was looking for a fastball and planned to adjust to anything off speed.

If last week was the coming-out party for the Lake Zurich product, Saturday was a showcase event. Hood has a team-high two hits and three RBIs that gave NIU its first and last lead of the game.

“Early in the year, I was getting all fast balls,” Hood said. “But I’m starting to get in more games and with that I’m getting some confidence-building going.”

Most important to Mathey was the fact that Hood’s heroics gave NIU a chance to take the weekend series from a team picked by most media outlets to host the MAC Tournament.

“In the MAC, you’ve got to win [multiple] series to get where you want to be,” Mathey said. “These guys are a good club. The last two pitchers they threw at us, the scouts were out there to see them.”

Mathey wasn’t sure how his team would respond to its first loss to open a series, but was pleased with the way his team managed the game and the effort from his young second baseman.

“We knew coming in to this weekend that it would be a challenge and to grind it out the way we did was outstanding,” Mathey said.

As for the big difference for Hood between game one and game two?

“They are a good team, but we gave them too much credit yesterday,” Hood said. “Today we came out more prepared, not intimidated. We didn’t think we couldn’t play with them, but we were more positive today. We can definitely take this series.”