Huskies’ Pitching Shuts Down Purdue In 2-1 Win
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: April 1, 2025
Contact: Mike Haase, Associate Strategic Communications Director (630-748-9847)
Huskies’ Pitching Shuts Down Purdue In 2-1 Win
NIU Holds Top-25 Scoring Offense In Nation To One Run, Strikes Out 11 Boilermakers
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team defeated a Big Ten team for the second straight season on Wednesday, earning a 2-1 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers at Alexander Field.
“This is a great win for our program,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “Everybody that follows our program knows we’ve been struggling a bit, especially on the mound. For us to bounce back against a really good team in Purdue is a really good thing for us.”
Purdue (20-8) entered the game averaging 9.1 runs per game which puts it 23rd in the nation in scoring. The NIU pitching staff held the Boilermakers to one run on six hits, recording 11 strikeouts. Senior Mason Ruh (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS) threw two scoreless innings to start the game, allowing three hits with a walk and two strikeouts and earned the win. Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College) got his third save, throwing the final two innings allowing no runs on one hit with four strikeouts.
“We pitched the way we’re capable of doing and played outstanding defense,” Copeland said. “I challenged our guys before the game to be better and to do your job and just focus on winning and they responded in a big way.”
NIU (10-17) opened the scoring in the top of the second inning when JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) led off with a home run over the left field wall. It was his fourth home run in the last five games. Purdue threatened to score in the bottom of the second. Breck Nowik and Houston Russell hit back-to-back singles with one out. Ruh got Brandon Rogers to foul out to catcher Kyle Hartmann (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) for the second out. Russell stole second to give the Boilermakers two runners in scoring position, but Ruh struck out Camden Gasser to end the inning.
The Huskies held Purdue scoreless for the first four innings. After two scoreless innings from Ruh, Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) threw a scoreless third with a strikeout. John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) retired the side in order in the fourth. The Boilermakers loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on three walks. Lyman induced an infield fly from designated hitter Logan Sutter for the second out. Spence then grounded out to end the inning.
Clayton Taylor (Columbus, Ind./Kaskaskia College) entered the game on the mound in the sixth for NIU. The junior struck out both Breck Nowik and Russell to start the inning. Rogers reached on an error, then stole second base and got to third on a throwing error on the steal. Taylor bounced back from a walk to Gasser to get Albert Choi to fly out to end the frame.
NIU extended its lead in the top of the seventh. Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) was hit by a Vallone pitch with one out. Gauthier then laced a double down the left field line as Smart scored all the way from first to put the Huskies up 2-0. Purdue got that run back in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs Sutter hit a home run over the left field fence off of NIU reliever Carter Cox (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) to make the score 2-1. Cox struck out Spence to end the inning.
Cihocki entered the game in the eighth and struck out the side. He got his fourth strikeout of the game as the first out of the ninth. Pinch-Hitter Avery Moore hit a single to left field to put the tying run on base for Purdue. The Huskies locked up the win with a double play, as Lucas Cook hit a groundball to second baseman Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) who flipped the ball to shortstop Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) at second who then relayed to Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) at first base.
“When you get a groundball with a guy on first, you have to find a way to turn a double play,” said Copeland. “That was something we struggled with early but we moved some guys around positionally on the infield and we’ve done a really good job up the middle. When we got that grounder in the ninth and had a chance to end the game, we got a great turn and got it done.”
Gauthier had two of NIU’s four hits in the game and drove in both runs. This is the Huskies’ first win against the Boilermakers in West Lafayette and just the second in the series between the two teams. It is NIU’s third win over a Power 5 program in the last two years. The Huskies won at both Cincinnati and Northwestern in 2024.
NIU returns home to host the Ohio Bobcats this weekend for a three-game Mid-American Conference Series at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park. The series begins on Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m. CT.