The Northern Illinois University baseball team hit three home runs and scored double-digit runs for the 14^th time this season in a 12-9 win against the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Oestrike Stadium Friday afternoon.

“Our offense was outstanding again, barrelled up a lot of pitches,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “We took our walks, had some really competitive at-bats and found a way to hit a couple home runs with the cross breeze. It was a good day and now we have to find a way to go win the series tomorrow.”

NIU (17-28, 6-16 MAC) got on the board first in the top of the third inning. Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) led off the inning with a bunt single. Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) followed with a walk. After a strikeout, Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) ripped a double to left field, scoring Parcell to make the score 1-0. Gregorio was thrown out at third base on the play for the second out.

Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) drove in Baldwin with a single to right field to give the Huskies’ a 2-0 lead. Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) drew a walk to keep the inning alive. Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) doubled the NIU advantage with a double to centerfield but was thrown out at third base to end the inning.

Eastern Michigan (17-22, 9-13 MAC) loaded the bases in the bottom of the third on a Bruce Jellison single followed by walks to Cooper Vance and Giano Zuccaro. A Logan Hugo sacrifice fly drove in Jellison and made the score 4-1. Harrison Travis then hit a home run over the centerfield wall to tie the game 4-4. Devan Zirwas followed with a home run of his own to right field to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.

The Huskies took the lead back in the top of the fourth. With Parcell at first base after a fielder’s choice, Gregorio launched his 16^th home run of the season over the right field wall to give NIU a 6-5 lead. He is now three home runs away from tying the NIU single-season record set by Colin Summerhill last season.

“We’ve shown a lot of resiliency this year,” Copeland said. “It’s easy to think that we haven’t because some games have gotten away from us, but our guys keep trucking along and finding ways to keep playing good baseball. Charlie got down the line and beat out a would-be double play. If he doesn’t do that, Logan doesn’t come up. He did and hammered that ball to get us the lead back. Every little thing matters in close games.”

Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Christian) kept the Huskies in front, putting up scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. NIU’s defense did its part with that as well, turning a double play in the fourth inning. Parcell threw out Hugo from centerfield in the fifth as he tried to stretch his leadoff single into a double.

NIU extended the lead in the seventh, putting four runs on the board with two outs. Couchman started the rally with a single followed by a Cohn base hit. Eastern Michigan went to the bullpen for Anderson, who gave up a single to Loyd that scored Couchman and put the Huskies ahead 7-5. CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) followed with a three-run home run to make the score 10-5.

The Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 10-6. NIU responded in the eighth with a two-run home run from JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) to go up 12-6. Eastern Michigan made things interesting in the ninth, scoring three runs to get within three at 12-9 but Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College) left the bases loaded to lock up his fifth save of the year.

Eight of the nine hitters in the NIU lineup had a hit on Friday. Gauthier’s home run was his 10^th of the season, making him the third Huskie to reach double-digit home runs this year. Baldwin, Couchman and Loyd each had three hits in the game. Loyd and Cepicky both drove in three runs. Brouwer battled through six innings for his fourth win of the year, allowing five runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Cihocki tied a season-high with five strikeouts in his three-inning save.

NIU and Eastern Michigan continue this weekend’s series on Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m. CT.