AVON, Ohio – A six-run seventh inning helped punch the Northern Illinois University baseball team’s ticket to the 2026 Mid-American Conference Baseball Championship Game as the Huskies defeated the Toledo Rockets 10-3 at ForeFront Field.
The Huskies will make their first appearance in the championship game in program history. The last conference tournament NIU won was the 1996 Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament. With Friday’s win, the Huskies’ tied the program record for single-season wins with 34 which was last reached in 2007.
“We just continue to get better and better,” said head coach Ryan Copeland after NIU clinched its spot in the championship game. “These guys play for each other and are as tough as it gets. It just seems like we have a different guy stepping up each game we play. It’s on to tomorrow and we’re going to try to wrap this up then.”
“This group of guys is really special and we’re putting it together at the right time,” added junior pitcher Danny Cihocki (Princeton, Ill./Lake Land College), who held Toledo to three runs in 7.2 innings on Friday with seven strikeouts. “I was able to land my pitches for strikes, got ahead and trusted my pitching coach.”
NIU (34-17) opened the scoring in the top of the first. Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) led off with a bunt single up the third base line. After a flyout Nolan Sandee lined a single to left field, advancing Wawro to third. Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) hit a sacrifice fly that scored Wawro and put the Huskies up 1-0. NIU did load the bases as Vinny Spotofora (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) reached on an error and Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) was hit by a Hayden Frey pitch. Frey got out of the inning with a flyout to hold the Huskies to just one run.
Cihocki retired the Toledo side in the first with a pair of strikeouts. The Rockets got their first hit of the game in the second inning on a Cade Baker single but a pair of flyouts ended the frame. Cihocki walked Ryan Sudbrook in the bottom of the third with one out. Liam Arsich then hit a groundball to Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) to start a 4-3 double play that put another zero in the line score.
“Our three starting pitchers are really competitive with each other and feed off each other,” Copeland said. “Max [Vaisvila] was outstanding on Wednesday. Carter [Cox] followed that up against one of the best offense’s in the country in Miami yesterday and shut them down for most of the game. Danny wanted to one-up them and was really good against another good offense.”
The Huskies extended the lead in the top of the sixth. Caden Robertson reached on an infield single with one out, then stole second base. After a flyout Wawro hit an infield single to give NIU runners at the corners. Smith laced a base hit to left field to score Robertson and put the Huskies up 2-0. Sandee then hit a ground rule double over the right centerfield wall to bring home Wawro and put NIU ahead 3-0.
NIU broke the game open in the top of the 7th. The first three hitters all reached base as Spotofora and Ivan Dahlberg (Minooka, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) drew walks around a Romero single. Robertson lined a double down the right field line to drive in two runs and put the Huskies ahead 5-0. Wawro drew a walk to load the bases for Smith, who crushed a grand slam over the left field wall to make the score 9-0.
“The big blow there was the grand slam,” Copeland said. “It felt like it was going to be one of those close games where we were going to have to make plays late. We showed our depth tonight. Our guys wanted to be up at the plate, or want the ball hit to them in the field. It was truly a team performance and another good response after a tough weekend last week.”
“Everybody was locked in and having good at-bats,” added Smith. “We felt like we could pull away once we drew some walks. I trusted my preparation in that moment and the rest took care of itself.”
Toledo (31-28) put a run on the board in the seventh and two in the eighth to make the score 9-3. The Huskies tacked on another run in the ninth on a Baldwin sacrifice fly, his sixth RBI of the tournament, to make the final score 10-3.
Smith was 2-for-5 with a season-high five RBI. Robertson was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Wawro was 3-for-3 from the leadoff spot and tied a season-high with four runs scored.
NIU will face the winner of Saturday’s elimination game between Toledo and Kent State.
May 22, 2026