Huskies Split Series With Miami After 6-2 Win Monday

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team earned a split of its series with the Miami RedHawks Monday afternoon with a 6-2 win at Ralph McKinzie Field.
 
Both teams put a run on the board in the first inning. Miami scored on a Cole Andrews single down the left field line that brought home JJ Woolwine from second base after he led off the game with a double. The Huskies tied the game with a Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) RBI single that scored Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC).
 
NIU (6-20, 6-8 MAC) took the lead in the bottom of the third. With runners at the corners and one out, Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) dropped a squeeze bunt to bring home Scott Combs (Northville, Mich./Michigan State) and put the Huskies up 2-1.  Starting Pitcher Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) took over from there. After allowing the RBI single to Andrews, the senior right-hander retired 13 straight RedHawks before allowing a two-out walk to Dalton Back in the top of the fifth. He got out of the inning by getting Blake Buzzeo to ground out.
 
“Michael has been very successful against Miami in his career,” said head coach Mike Kunigonis. “He’s been awesome in these games when we need him to make a quality start. It was his best start of the season so far and it was nice to see that.”
 
Miami (11-15, 7-8 MAC) had a chance to tie the game in the top of the sixth. Andrews doubled down the left field line with two outs in the inning, getting to third on a wild pitch. After a walk to Stephen Krause, Connor Langreder (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) came in from the Huskies bullpen and got Brian Zapp to pop out to Jack Blazevich (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) at second base to end the threat.
 
The Huskies extended the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Harper led off with a double down the right field line. A Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) groundout moved Harper to third. Blazevich then hit a fly ball to left field deep enough to bring home Harper on a sacrifice fly to give NIU a 3-1 lead. The RedHawks got back within one in the top of the seventh when a Back sacrifice fly made the score 3-2.
 
NIU responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) led off with a walk, getting to second base on a Barnes groundout. The Huskies loaded the bases on back-to-back walks to Combs and Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, D.R./Ellsworth CC). A wild pitch allowed Combs to score to put NIU up 4-2. Peters then laced a single through the left side of the infield to bring home Aranda for the Huskies’ fifth run. Harper followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, scoring Combs to make the score 6-2. Langreder made that score hold up, allowing one hit and one walk over the final two innings to lock up the win for the Huskies.
 
“We did a good job of working some counts and some at-bats, getting on base and then executing when we had the opportunity to score runs,” Kunigonis said.
 
Lasiewicz allowed one run on three hits in 5.2 innings for his first win of the year, striking out four with two walks. Langreder earned the save, allowing one run on two hits over 3.1 innings. Peters was 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBI. Harper also drove in a pair of runs.
 
NIU goes on the road Tuesday to face #16 Purdue. First pitch in West Lafayette, Ind. is set for 3 p.m. CT.
 
–NIU–