NIU’s baseball team doubled its win total on the season by taking two of three games at Southern Illinois-Carbondale over the weekend.

After dropping Friday’s game 7-4, the Huskies (4-5) and pitcher Nick Hall shutout SIU 8-0 Saturday.

Hall tossed a complete-game shutout, giving up four hits on the day. The senior allowed nine runs in his first two outings this year, but only four were earned.

“Nick threw good strikes early in the count and stayed ahead,” said NIU coach Ed Mathey. “That gave him a lot of confidence, and the defense backed him up when SIU (10-3) was able to get to the ball.”

The Huskies closed out the three-game series with an 8-6 victory Sunday.

Five NIU pitchers combined to give up six runs and six hits, with sophomore pitcher Trevor Feeney recording his first win of the season.

“When you lose the first game it’s tough to start talking about winning a series,” Mathey said. “Our pitching put us in a position win. It was good to see our kids battle back.”

Softball wins one, loses three

Falling to 3-5 on the season, the NIU softball team went 1-3 over the weekend at the Coach B. Classic in Carbondale.

On Friday, the Huskies beat Illinois-Chicago 1-0 and lost 2-0 to No. 24 Iowa (9-7).

NIU then lost 5-2 Saturday to SIU (10-1) before dropping the consolation game to UIC 5-4.

In their first game against UIC (2-12), the Huskies lone run was scored by center fielder Kelly Park. The junior tripled and then scored on Michelle Nendza’s at-bat after UIC shortstop Joyce Cathey committed an error.

NIU pitcher Lindsey LaChiana moved to 3-0 on the season, spreading out five hits over seven innings against UIC.

“I’m a little bit disappointed with our efforts at the plate,” said NIU coach Donna Martin. “But we can work on that. We were just inconsistent.”