#MACBats Digest: Northern Illinois caps final MAC run with memorable postseason

After winning the MAC Tournament in Avon the prior week, Northern Illinois was drawn into the Tallahassee Regional of the NCAA Baseball Championship, alongside Coastal Carolina, St. John’s and host Florida State. 

The regional tournaments are double-elimination, and send the winning team to the Super Regionals against the winner of another region. 

As MAC champion, the Huskies were the three-seed, meaning they had a lot to prove if they wanted to move on.

Game One: Coastal Carolina

The Huskies’ regional run began against Coastal Carolina, who finished second in the Sun Belt Conference and secured themselves an at-large bid to the tournament. 

Senior pitcher and MAC Tournament MVP Max Valdivia drew the start for the Huskies, while the Chanticleers opened the evening with their towering junior pitcher Ross Norman. 

Norman, a six-foot-seven righty, entered the game in a slump, but looked strong in his first two innings. He struck out four hitters as the Chanticleers built up a four-run lead, but ran into trouble when the lineup flipped in the top of the third. 

Freshman outfielder Wyatt Wawro singled, forcing Norman out of the stretch. Facing a 1-2 count, senior infielder Cole Smith lifted a fastball into deep left-center. The left fielder mistimed his jump, and the ball careened off of the heel of his glove, allowing Smith to race to third as Wawro scored.

Smith would follow him home when sophomore infielder Nolan Sandee legged out a masterfully placed bunt down the first base line. Norman finished the inning unscathed, but the Huskies had cut the deficit to two. 

The next inning, Northern Illinois' offense exploded. Senior outfielder Caden Robertson’s sacrifice fly ended Norman’s night, and left runners on the corners for Chanticleers’ first reliever, freshman pitcher Colby Richardson. 

Just two pitches into his appearance, chaos erupted. Wawro laid down a bunt that returned to Richardson, who checked the runners before firing his throw to first base, a throw far out of reach of its target. 

When the dust settled, the game was tied, and the Huskies had two runners in scoring position. Smith walked to load the bases, then Sandee was struck by a pitch to score the go-ahead run. Next, graduate student outfielder Gavin Baldwin was also walked, giving NIU a two run lead before Richardson retired his final batter for the second out of the inning. 

Two-run singles from Robertson and junior outfielder Marcus Romero pushed the lead even further, giving the Huskies pitching staff a 10-4 cushion to work with. 

Junior pitcher Danny Cihocky had been dealing since relieving Valdivia in the third, but the wheels began to fall off in the fifth inning. After retiring the first two batters, the Chanticleers were able to string together a walk, single and a pair of doubles to cash in three runs. 

Head coach Ryan Copeland opted for a new arm between innings, sending out junior pitcher Cooper Cohn to protect a slightly diminished three-run lead. Cohn proceeded to stymy the Chanticleer lineup, tossing 2.2 innings of shutout baseball to bring the Huskies within four outs of their first-ever NCAA tournament win. Sophomore pitcher Carter Cox struck out the final batter of the eighth, Copeland’s pick to close out the game.

In the top of the ninth, Northern Illinois added some insurance. With two runners on, Sandee ripped a double into the right-center gap, scoring both to make it a five-run game. 

Despite a scare off the bat of senior outfielder Dean Mihos, who hit a towering, three-run blast over the left field fence. Two batters later, Cox slammed the door shut.  

Northern Illinois secured the historic win, 12-10, advancing to take on St. John’s. 

Game Two: St. John’s

Northern Illinois’ second tournament game was delayed a day due to rainfall. The Huskies would likely rather this game was never played at all. 

After three innings, things looked promising. Romero belted a home run in the second, and was followed by a four-run third. The Huskies had built a 5-0 lead, but St. John’s had a decisive answer waiting. 

It took four NIU pitchers to escape a nine-run small ball onslaught from the Red Storm, who surged to a 9-5 lead. The next inning, the runs kept coming. Senior pitcher Nick Bassi got two quick outs, but allowed three runs and left a sticky situation for senior pitcher Gavin Micklinghoff, who promptly gave up a towering three-run blast to extend the Red Storm lead to ten. 

While the Huskies were able to tack on a few runs towards the end of the game, St. John’s matched them at every turn. The game ended with a lopsided 21-8 score, putting Northern Illinois one loss from elimination, setting up an elimination game date with host Florida State. 

Game Three: Florida State

Copeland opted for Cox to start the must-win affair. After battling the first batter of the game to a full count, Florida State’s freshman outfielder John Stuetzer drilled the sixth pitch into the gap. He’d eventually score on a second double, putting NIU into an early hole. 

In their half of the inning, Baldwin stepped up to the plate with Smith on second base. In a 1-2 count, Baldwin turned on a low pitch, slamming a no-doubter over the left field fence to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. 

Florida State answered with a pair of runs on the back of three singles, but from that point, Cox found his groove. He made short work of the next several innings, retiring the side in 1-2-3 fashion in both the third and fourth inning. Junior pitcher Chris Knier was equally dominant in relief of Florida State’s starter, striking out five in his 3.1 innings of work. 

In the fourth, Baldwin struck again. This time, he took a high pitch the opposite way, shooting a solo shot over the right field fence. His seventeenth home run, a crucial one for the Huskies, tied the game at three. 

From that point forward, it was a pitching deadlock until the seventh inning. 

Errors and walks fueled a bases-loaded situation for Cole Smith, who drew the go-ahead walk, forcing a pitching change from the Seminoles. To continue the theme of the game, Florida State had a response. 

All it took was one runner, who was promptly scored by a double to re-tie the game at four. 

FSU junior pitcher Brody Purcell and Cihocky dealt for both teams, sending the game into extras after nearly flawless pitching. Purcell struck out the side in the eighth, while Cihocky delivered a 1-2-3 ninth. 

In the tenth, Copeland decided to stick with Cihocky to close. He walked the first batter, then allowed a single to the second. Sophomore catcher Hunter Carns delivered a much-needed deep fly ball to center, cashing in a go-ahead run to make it 5-4. 

Cihocky retired the next batter, setting up a two-out situation for FSU senior pitcher Ben Barrett.

Barrett launched a home run the opposite way, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Copeland replaced Cihocky, but the damage was done. Senior pitcher John Lyman recorded the final out, and the Huskies went back into the dugout needing three runs to keep their hopes alive. 

Baldwin gave the Huskies some life with a two-out single, but Purcell remained dominant, striking out Romero for the final out of the game. 

This was the final game for Northern Illinois as a member of the Mid-American Conference, as their baseball program will be a part of the Horizon League next season.

While the Huskies fell short of a trip to the Super Regionals, their postseason run marked one of the most successful stretches in program history.

Northern Illinois captured its first– and last– MAC Tournament championship in school history, its first postseason championship in any conference since 1972, its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, and pushed a nationally-ranked Florida State squad to extra innings on its home field for a chance to advance to the next round. It's hard not to be optimistic about the program as they transition into their next chapter.

This week's piece is the conclusion of our weekly baseball coverage for the 2026 season.

Thank you everyone for following along with our baseball coverage here at By The Belt! We appreciate your readership and aim to bring back our #MACBats Digest next season.

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