NIU starting pitcher Stephen Ayers knew that if he hit his spots, he was going to have a good game.

In the Huskies 7-0 victory over Mount St. Clare on Tuesday, the sophomore pitched six shutout innings for the Huskies to improve his season record to 2-1. Ayers allowed only two hits and struck out nine batters, which is the third best strikeout total in school history. The left-hander struck out two hitters in three different innings.

“I felt good today. I was just hitting my spots,” Ayers said. “I was trying to keep their balls on the ground.”

Senior Steve Sanckey, freshman Nathan Stillwell and junior Knick Davis each threw one scoreless inning for the Huskies in relief. The Huskie pitching staff has now gone 28 straight innings without allowing an earned run.

“I was really happy with our pitching today,” NIU baseball coach Dave Schrage said. “Ayers’ fastball was working really well for him. We wore him out last week, so I gave him some time off, and it looked like it worked.”

NIU (16-14) got on the board in the second inning when senior Al Ryniec drove in sophomore Brent Coyner with a single to right field. The Huskies received some help from Mount St. Clare in the bottom of the fifth as the Mounties walked five Huskies hitters. NIU jumped on the Mounties for six runs on three hits in the inning.

Junior Jason Ciarrachi broke the inning open with a bloop single to right, driving in two runners. After Ryniec was walked, freshman Rob Marconi cleared the bases with a double to right center that nearly went over the fence.

Even though the Huskies had seven hits for the game, Schrage thought his team could have done better at the plate.

“I think that Jason’s single was the biggest play for us today,” Schrage said. “We got the win, but I think we came out really flat today.”