DeKalb Times

Series Finale Moved to Sunday at Noon (CT)

The Northern Illinois University baseball team dropped both ends of a Mid-American Conference doubleheader to the Miami RedHawks Friday at Hayden Park, falling 10-3 in game one and 16-3 in game two.
 
Parker Shupe collected three hits on the day to lead the Huskies at the plate and Colin Summerhill hit his second home run of the season – a solo shot - in game two. Tyler Thierry had a pair of hits in the second game for NIU as the Huskies totaled 10 hits in the game.
 
"We need to keep working and keep battling," said NIU head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We are not playing well right now and need to flush this and show up [Sunday] and play the way we know we are capable of playing." 
 
In the first game of the day, Miami scored five runs in the last three innings, including a four-run eighth, to turn a close 5-3 contest into a 10-3 win.
 
NIU opened the scoring in the top of the first. With two outs, Aaron Harper was hit by pitch and moved to second on a single by Colin Summerhill. After both advanced on a wild pitch and Andrew Smart walked to load the bases, Harper scored on a passed ball.
 
Miami took a 2-1 lead in their half of the third on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Ryland Zaborowski and a bases loaded walk.
 
The Huskies took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth without recording a hit. With two outs, Marcus Peters walked, Eric Erato reached on an error and a walk to Andre Demetral loaded the bases. Peters scored on a passed ball and Erato came in on an error by the RedHawks' first baseman.
 
Those would be the last runs of the game for NIU. Miami took the lead for good in the fifth, scoring three runs off of Huskie reliever Jacob Draeger (0-2). Cooper Weiss tripled and after a walk to Tommy Harrison, David Novak's sac bunt scored Weiss.  A double by Dillon Baker and single by Evan Appelwick drove in the next two runs, giving the RedHawks a 5-3 lead.
 
They extended the lead to 6-3 in the seventh on Appelwick's sac fly, which scored Novak, who doubled to open the inning. Miami's four eighth inning runs came on three hits and a pair of walks.  
 
NIU got a seventh-inning single from Shupe to lead off the seventh inning and put two runners on in the ninth. Three Miami pitchers limited the Huskies to a pair of hits and three unearned runs on the day while walking six and striking out 17. Starter Connor Oliver (1-2) picked up the win for MU with six innings of work.
 
While the Huskies' bats picked up in the second game with 10 hits, NIU struggled on the mound and in the field as only five of the RedHawks' 16 runs in the game were earned.  Starting pitcher Dominic Hahn (0-3) lasted just 1.1 innings as Miami put six runs on the board in the first two frames to take a 6-1 lead. They extended the lead to 11-1 with five runs in the fourth on three hits and three errors, including a two-run homer by Baker. 
 
In the fifth inning, Thierry reached on an error and scored on a single by Spencer Bartel to account for the Huskies' second run, but MU came back with four runs in their half of the frame, three on a home run by Brian Zapp, to put the game out of reach at 15-2. Each team added a run in the final three inning with NIU scoring in the top of the seventh as Thierry tripled and scored on a passed ball.  
 
All told, five NIU pitchers gave up 10 walks and 11 hits, while Huskie fielders were charged with eight errors in the game.
 
NIU (3-15, 0-5 MAC) and Miami (4-15, 2-3 MAC) will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday at Noon (CT). The game had been scheduled for Saturday but was pushed back due to expected cold temperatures in Oxford on Saturday. NIU is scheduled to play the first game at the newly-renamed Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park on Friday, March 24 at 3 p.m. (CT). It will be the first game at NIU's new turf infield facility.

Original source can be found here.