NIU baseball coach Ed Mathey just couldn’t find many positives after Tuesday’s game.

Despite beating Chicago State 5-1 at Ralph McKenzie Field, NIU managed only five hits and relied heavily on CSU miscues to take the victory.

“I’m not happy with our offensive strategy today,” the third year coach said. “We had a few new guys in today, but we need to try to figure out how to get more runs across.”

NIU (10-22) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after pitcher Robert Vargas had control problems for CSU (3-35) and walked the bases loaded in the first two innings. But the Huskies managed just two hits, and two of the runs were walked home.

The pitching of Brandon Hodge, who improved to 2-4 on the season, was the one positive, Mathey said. The junior gave up just three hits and no runs through five innings.

“Hodge has not been pitching much this year,” Mathey said, “so we are still trying to figure out where his arm is. But it was good to see him throwing the ball the way he was today.”

The win was the NIU’s second in a row, but the team will have to sharpen up a lot if it wants to make it three straight, Mathey said.

The Huskies travel to the University of Illinois-Chicago for a 7:05 p.m. game today.