Behind some strong pitching and key hitting the NIU baseball team came away from its weekend series in Memphis, Tenn., with a 2-1 record.

The Huskies (2-3) started the weekend with a 4-3 victory over Ball State in 10 innings Friday, giving coach Ed Mathey his first win as NIU’s skipper.

Sophomore Greg Larsen drove in the tying and winning runs with a pair of walks.

Senior Max Sulzberger picked up the win by working a perfect 10th inning.

Riding high after their come from behind victory over the Cardinals, the Huskies defeated St. Louis 6-1 Saturday putting them at .500 on the season despite committing five errors.

The NIU bats came alive against the Billikens as they slugged out 13 hits, including three from junior Mike Santoro who also drove in a career-high five runs.

Starting junior pitcher Zach Minor didn’t need that much support as he allowed just one unearned run in seven innings while striking out six.

“Our pitching has been very good, we can’t complain about that,” Mathey said. “They’ve been taking charge of the ball game and have come out throwing strikes. They’re giving us a chance to win ball games and that’s what you want from your pitchers.”

The two-game winning streak for the Huskies came to an end Sunday with a 8-4 loss to Southern Illinois.

Despite being ahead 3-0 after three innings, poor fielding did the Huskies in this time as they committed four errors.

“Anytime you give up 15 free passes between walks and errors you don’t stand much of a chance to win,” Mathey said. “That’s the reality of it. We didn’t play a good game of baseball today.”

For the weekend the Huskies punched out 29 hits. Santoro led the way as he went 4-11 with five RBIs. NIU’s junior infielder Joe Mazzuca also helped the offensive attack with five hits on the weekend.

“The hits are starting to drop in,” Mathey said. “Our approach has been healthy. We’re starting to come around. If we can get it figured out on defense we’re going to be a pretty solid team.”