The rain at Ralph McKinzie field didn’t cool the NIU baseball team’s bats Tuesday in its 7-5 victory over Illinois State.

The Huskies (24-17) pounded out 15 hits, led by junior shortstop Joe Mazzuca with four and freshman Scott Simon with three.

After a Redbird home run in the second inning that put the Huskies down two, NIU tied the game in the third on a towering two-run homer to left field by junior outfielder Mike Santoro.

“I thought we hit the ball great today,” coach Ed Mathey said. “Scotty’s been hitting the ball real well, and Mike’s really starting to evolve as a hitter. Pitching wise, to only give up five hits is pretty outstanding. When Nathan [Stillwell] found his rhythm, he threw some great pitches.”

In the fifth inning with NIU up one, Stillwell, NIU’s junior starter, loaded the bases. After a wild pitch tied up the game, Stillwell struck out the side to kill the Redbirds’ rally.

“I’ve been battling a little bit of a shoulder problem and I just wanted to go out there and give the team a good five [innings] and try to get a win,” Stillwell said. “Most of the time you don’t have you’re best stuff when you go out there, you just go there and compete.”

Going off Stillwell’s momentum, the Huskies took the lead when Santoro drove in his third RBI of the game, hitting his second round-tripper of the game and his 12th of the season.

Santoro’s home run tied the NIU season record held by Pat Conroy (1967) and Jeff Sevenich (1980).

“I’ve had confidence in myself the whole time,” Santoro said. “It was just a matter of getting better after every game and every at-bat.”

In the bottom of the sixth, the Huskies added what would turn out to be a big run when Mazzuca hit a line drive home run that nearly hit the scoreboard in left-center field.

With NIU up 7-3 in the eighth, things got interesting. With freshman Mark Badgley struggling on the hill with two on and one out, home plate umpire Jay Riordan called a pitch that appeared to be outside the strike zone to even the count at 2-2.

Redbird manager Jim Brownlee didn’t appreciate the call and got tossed after he said to Riordan, “You’re either blind or a cheater, and I don’t think you’re blind.”

Without its coach, ISU did manage to close the gap, scoring two runs on a throwing error by Mazzuca. In the ninth, Badgley shut the door striking out the last two batters he faced to tie the Huskie single season and career record for saves with seven.