Earning its first sweep over the Miami University RedHawks since 2012, NIU baseball picked up a 6-4 win in the series finale.
“To sweep a team like that is pretty dang impressive,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland. “We did it a bunch of different ways. A great weekend for our guys. We’ll enjoy it here for a day, and then we’re back on the road. And of course, we got another big series coming up against Bowling Green.”
To go along with the sweep over the Redhawks, the Huskies’ 6-3start in Mid-American Conference is their bestsince 2019 – the last time NIU made the MAC tournament.
After junior pitcher Max Vaisvila’s complete game on Saturday, the Huskies used just four pitchers in the last two games of the series after using seven arms in the opener.
Sophomore pitcher Carter Cox started the game after appearing in relief in Friday’s matchup, where he threw 1.1 innings and earned the win.
Cox threw 4 innings, surrendering three of the four runs scored by Miami while striking out two batters.
Senior pitcher Blake Gaskey came into the game following Cox and he provided 4 innings of one run ball while picking up 4 strikeouts.
“Blake was huge for us,” Copeland said. “We went into this game feeling like we’re going to have to use quite a few of our arms and it turns out we didn’t. When Blake went in the game we expected him to throw an inning or two but he was throwing the ball so well so we kept rolling with him out there. He’s been a really welcome addition to us.”
Gaskey picked up his third win of the season, improving his record to 3-1 in his first season in DeKalb. His 4 innings of work were also a season high.
“I love Blake, he’s awesome,” Dahlberg said. “He deserves it all, he was at Ohio last year and he was kind of in a bad environment from what he said. It’s great to see him go out and do what he does and just fill up the zone and get guys out.”
Senior pitcher Matt Tarr pitched the ninth inning and picked up the save as he was able to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam to secure the sweep.
Senior catcher Ivan Dahlberg smacked another pair of homeruns bringing his total for the weekend up to four. The lefty catcher also totaled 9 RBIs on the weekend to bring his season total to 13.
“He’s exactly what you want out of your field general,” Copeland said. “He’s as tough as nails, he plays with emotion, but he knows when to channel it. We feel like he’s been leaving some meat on the bones offensively. So, I’m not surprised by it but he’s just the heart and soul of our team which says a lot about him considering he’s a one year guy.”
After slugging a walkoff grand slam on Friday, Dahlberg had the go ahead home run in the sixth inning.
“It’s huge, they’ve got a great program over there,” Dahlberg said. “For us, we’ve been struggling for the last few years in the MAC and it’s just great to go get a win against those guys. It’s a way to let teams know, hey, we’re here. We’re not here to play around, we’re here to play baseball and win games.”
Junior outfielder Charlie Parcell also drove in a pair of runs on 2 hits to bring his total up to eight on the season. Parcell also stole his team leading eighth base of the season and has only been caught stealing once.
Junior outfielder Marcus Romero got his first start of the series in the finale and tallied two hits in four at-bats and drove in a run. Romero also picked up a steal, his fifth on the season, which ranks second on the team.
UP NEXT
The Huskies’ next game will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday against Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available on SIDEARM Sports.
