Senior Parker Shupe (Johnston, Iowa/Kirkwood CC) hit a game-winning pinch-hit two-run single in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday afternoon to give the Northern Illinois University baseball team a 15-14 win over the St. Thomas Tommies at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
NIU (17-31) trailed 14-13 going into the ninth. Sam Pederson (Verona, Wis./McHenry CC) came in from the NIU bullpen and held the Tommies scoreless with two strikeouts while stranding two runners on base.
“Getting the zero in the top half of the ninth was big,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “Sam has been our best guy out of the pen for awhile now. He competed enough today without letting in an extra run and that changed the dynamic of the inning.”
Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) and CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) both drew walks off of St. Thomas reliever Carl Cano to start the bottom of the ninth. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt back to Cano. Parker Shupe then entered the batter’s box to pinch-hit for Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry). After fouling off the first two pitchers, Shupe ripped a base hit over the first baseman and down the right field line, driving in the two runs to give NIU the 15-14 victory.
“These past few months I’ve been coming off the bench in situations like this,” said Shupe. “You always have to stay ready, and once your name is called in the later innings be ready to go. The pitcher threw me a good pitch to hit and it ended up working out.”
“We found a way to win,” Copeland said. “Parker’s had some really good at-bats but a lot of tough luck. He deserved a chance in that spot and delivered a big hit. It’s a really good moment for him.”
The Huskies batted around in the first inning with a three-run double off the bat of Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) capping a five-run opening frame. St. Thomas answered with five runs in the top of the second, then three in the third on a Joe Vos three-run home run that put the Tommies up 8-5.
NIU took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth in a loud way. With one out and the bases loaded, Summerhill launched a grand slam over the left centerfield fence for his 19th home run of the year and a 9-8 Huskies lead.
St. Thomas (18-22) took the lead back in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs as a Sean Marlow run-scoring double with two outs put the Tommies ahead 12-9. NIU answered with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. With Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) at second base following a leadoff double, Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) drove in Kelley with a single back up the middle to make the score 12-10. After walks to Summerhill and Cepicky, Parcell cleared the bases with a three-run double down the left field line to put NIU back up 13-12.
Parcell and Summerhill each drove in four runs on the day. Summerhill was 1-for-3 with four runs scored and three walks. Cepicky was 2-fo-2 with three runs scored and four walks, tying a single-game NIU record last set on April 27 by Parcell against Central Michigan. Demetral was 3-for-5 with three runs scored, both tying career-highs, and also turned an unassisted double play.
“You’re always trying to get better as the season goes on,” said Copeland. “Despite the numbers on the stat sheet, it feels like we have the opportunity to be dangerous offensively quite a bit especially lately with the weather warming up. Our lineup is confident right now. Our guys believe in themselves.”
The Huskies play their final road series of the season this weekend at Western Michigan, starting Friday, May 10 at 2 p.m. CT.