The Northern Illinois University baseball team drew seven walks Sunday but was held to only two hits in an 8-0 loss to the Western Michigan Broncos at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field. The loss eliminated the Huskies from Mid-American Conference tournament contention.
“They threw a ton of strikes all weekend,” said head coach Ryan Copeland about the Broncos’ pitching staff. “They spun the ball on us and we didn’t hit it. They threw fastballs early and we were not aggressive enough. We made a few mistakes on the basepaths that cost us.”
NIU (18-33, 11-16 MAC) got a leadoff single from Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) to start the game, reaching second on an error by rightfielder Josh Swinehart. Western Michigan starting pitcher DJ Thompson got a strikeout for the first out, then picked off Erato at second base. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) flew out to Swinehart to end the inning.
Western Michigan (27-20, 17-10 MAC) got on the board in the bottom of the first Dylan Nevar hit a two-out home run over the centerfield fence to put the Broncos up 1-0. The Huskies got two runners on base in the top of the second when Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) and Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) drew a pair of two-out walks. Thompson got a strikeout to end the threat.
The Broncos loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second on back-to-back singles from Michael Maloney and Brendan Harrity and Grady Mee getting hit by a Conner Lutes (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville). A wild pitch brought home Malone and made the score 2-0. Jackson Kitchen followed with a single through the right side of the infield, driving in two more runs to put the Broncos up 4-0.
NIU left two runners on base in the top of the fourth. Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) drew a walk with two outs, reaching third when Nelson got on base via a Maloney throwing error. Joe Shapiro closed the inning with a strikeout to keep the Huskies scoreless. Dominic Hann (Washington, Mich./Michigan State) kept pace with the Western Michigan bullpen, throwing four scoreless innings from the third to the sixth inning. The senior stranded two runners on base in the fourth.
“Dom has been really good out of the bullpen this year,” Copeland said. “With some of the injuries we’ve had, we had to put him in the rotation. His stuff plays as a reliever and he gave us a chance once he came in the game. We got him out of there feeling good and hopefully he can build on today’s outing going into his last week as a Huskie.”
The Broncos put four insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth, sparked by a Swinehart two-run home run, to go up 8-0.
Erato and Summerhill each had a hit in the game for NIU. Cohn, Parcell and JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) had two walks each.
The Huskies close the 2024 with four games at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park this week. NIU hosts Milwaukee on Tuesday, May 14 at 3 p.m. before taking on Eastern Michigan May 16-18.
“We’re playing for pride and for the guys in this program,” said Copeland. “We’re going to try and build on some good things we’ve done this year. You always want to finish strong, so hopefully we come out and we play really good baseball for the last four games at home.”