The Northern Illinois University baseball scored 11 unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings Sunday on its way to a 17-7 win over the Ohio Bobcats in eight innings at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park as the Huskies won their first conference series of the season.

“A tough team is a resilient team and we bounced back in a big way,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “It was nice to get out in front early as opposed to playing catch up like we did yesterday. Our offense picked us right up. Nolan [Sandee] had the big bases-clearing triple and we never looked back. It’s always a good day when you can leave the park after eight innings.”

NIU (12-17, 3-9 MAC) opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) led off with an infield single, followed by a Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) base hit that got Gauthier to third. Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) drove in Gauthier with a sacrifice fly for the first run. A walk to Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) and a hit by pitch on Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) loaded the bases for Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet), who reached on a 40-foot single down the third base line to make the score 2-0. A two-out double off the bat of Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) drove in two more runs to give the Huskies a 4-0 lead.

Ohio (8-22, 4-11 MAC) responded in the top of the third. The Bobcats scored four runs with two coming on a two-run single by third baseman Nick Dolan. NIU loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning as Kosobucki drew a two-out walk after a Smart single and a Cohn hit by pitch. Sandee then stepped up to the plate and laced a triple down the right field line to clear the bases and put NIU ahead 7-4.

The Huskies pulled away in a big way in the fourth. NIU scored eight runs on just two hits to take a 15-4 lead. After a strikeout to start the inning, the next 10 Huskie batters all reached base. Loyd drove in a run with a single to left field. Smart, Kosobucki, Sandee and Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) each drove in a run on a bases loaded walk to make the score 12-4. Gregorio then hit another two-run double to put the Huskies up by 10, 14-4. The final run of the inning scored on a fielder’s choice that made the score 15-4.

“As an offense, if we make the opposing pitching staff get us out inside the zone, it’s going to be really tough for them to do,” Copeland said. “We only had 10 hits today but we took a ton of free passes. When you can slug like we can, close to 50 home runs, it makes it easy to go put up a quick number pretty fast.”

The Bobcats scored three runs in the fifth on a Blake Reed three-run home run, but those would be the last runs for Ohio on the day. NIU’s Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) entered the game out of the bullpen in the sixth and threw three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a walk. The Huskies got an RBI double in the sixth from Kosobucki to go up 16-7. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) put the finishing touches on the win with a double in the seventh that scored Sandee to make the final score 17-7.

Sandee was 2-for-3 on the day with a team-high five RBI and drew two walks. Gregorio was 2-for-4 with four RBI. The Huskies drew 12 walks as a team and were hit by five pitches. Smart was 1-for-1 and drew four walks, scoring four times. John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) earned his first NIU win in relief of Mason Ruh (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS), throwing 1.1 innings of scoreless relief with two hits and two strikeouts.

The Huskies close their current four-game homestand on Tuesday, April 8 against Eastern Illinois. First pitch is at 2 p.m.