Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and Dominic Hann (Washington, Mich,/Michigan State) combined for a five-hit shutout of the Miami RedHawks Sunday afternoon at McKie Field at Hayden Park as the Northern Illinois University baseball team defeated Miami 1-0 to take the final game of the weekend series.
Miami (9-13, 4-5 MAC) threatened to score in the top of the first. Dillon Baker led off the game with a single up the middle. After Brouwer struck out Zach MacDonald, Ty Batusich drew a walk to put runners at first and second. Brouwer got David Novak to hit a groundball to Christian Seegers (Schaumburg, Ill./Creighton) who tagged out Baker then threw to first base for a double play to end the inning.
NIU’s (8-16, 5-4 MAC) first scoring chance came in the bottom of the second. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) got the Huskies’ first hit of the game with a one-out single. Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) drew a walk with Spencer Bartel (Sun Prairie, Wis./Madison College) reaching on an infield single to load the bases. Miami starting pitcher Nick Vardavas left the bases loaded with a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to keep the game scoreless.
Brouwer allowed just two hits from the third to the seventh inning, striking out four more Miami batters. The Huskies put the lone run of the game on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Kelley reached on a one-out infield single, getting to second on a throwing error by Miami third baseman Tyler Gordon. Vardavas got a strikeout for the second out. Bartel then stepped up to the plate and ripped a base hit up the middle to bring in Kelley and put NIU ahead 1-0.
“We competed extremely well today,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “We needed a really good start from Adam and he gave that to us. We had some opportunities to score early but didn’t capitalize. When we needed a big hit, we got it from Spencer [Bartel]. He deserves a lot of credit. His role has changed from the beginning of the season to now, and we decided he deserved a start today and he got two big hits.”
Hann entered the game from the bullpen in the top of the eighth. He got Baker to fly out and struck out MacDonald before Batusich reached on a single. Dom Magliocca came on to pinch run for Batusich and was picked off first base to end the inning. The Huskies had a chance to put some insurance runs on the board in the bottom half of the eighth. NIU had two runners on base when Miami reliever Lukas Galdoni got back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. Hann made the 1-0 lead stick with a perfect ninth inning, striking out Ryan Novak and Ryland Zaborowski to secure the win.
“We pitched extremely well today,” Copeland said. “Adam had command of three pitches and had his best start of the year. After a tough start to the game yesterday, we needed someone to step up and not only was Brouwer outstanding, Hann was lights out to close the game as well.”
Brouwer got his second win of the season, throwing a season-high seven innings. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out five RedHawks. Hann recorded his second save, striking out three in two innings with one just one hit allowed.
“I just needed to take it one inning at a time,” said Brouwer following Sunday’s win. “If you’re in the dugout between innings thinking about going seven, it usually doesn’t go well. Today was huge. We actually talked before the game that a shutout would be awesome. It’s a real tall task but it would be cool to accomplish and to get it today was really awesome.”
Kelley and Bartel each had two hits in the game. Sunday was NIU’s first nine-inning shutout since May 22, 2019 when the Huskies defeated Miami 4-0 in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Huskies shutout Kent State 3-0 in a seven-inning game at Kent State on March 20, 2021. NIU’s last 1-0 win came at Evansville on April 23, 2017.
NIU is next in action at Northwestern on Tuesday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m.