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Valparaiso University

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Frost INS
5
Valparaiso VALPO 10-30
11
Winner Northern Ill. NIU 26-13
Valparaiso VALPO
10-30
5
Final
11
Northern Ill. NIU
26-13
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Valparaiso VALPO 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 5 8 4
Northern Ill. NIU 3 6 0 0 0 1 1 0 X 11 13 0

W: Blake Gaskey (6-1) L: Rerick, Colton (0-2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Hatch Homers in Midweek Defeat in DeKalb

Sophomore Bryan Hatch (Des Plaines, Ill. / St. Viator) hammered his first collegiate home run – a tape-measure job that traveled 450 feet – but the Valparaiso University baseball team fell 11-5 to Northern Illinois on Tuesday in DeKalb, Ill.
 
How It Happened
  • Valpo struck first in the top of the first as Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / Ravenwood) stroked a run-scoring single, plating Michael Kuska (Pontiac, Ill. / Pontiac Township), who had walked and swiped a base earlier in the inning.
  • Northern Illinois benefited from three Valpo opening-inning errors, scoring three times in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead.
  • The Huskies tacked on in the bottom of the second as they scored six times to increase the lead to 9-1.
  • After Hunter Frost (Farmington, Minn. / Farmington) came into the game and put up a zero in the bottom of the third including a pair of strikeout victims who went down looking, Valpo inched closer in the top of the fourth. A sac fly by Javin Gauthier (De Pere, Wis. / De Pere) plated a run, then Hatch smoked a no-doubt, two-run home run to left to get his team within five at 9-4. The Hatch homer was measured at 450 feet.
  • Frost worked another scoreless frame in the fourth, then Dylan Immel (Brownsville, Wis. / Lomira) entered and sent down the side in order in the fifth before yielding a run on a pair of two-out hits in the sixth to make it 10-4.
  • The Beacons got that run back in the top of the seventh as Kuska grounded a run-scoring single up the middle to make it 10-5. A sac fly for the Huskies in the bottom of that inning made it 11-5.
  • Lefty Christian Hack (Oak Forest, Ill. / Tinley Park) worked a scoreless bottom of the eighth, but the 11-5 score stood as the final.
Inside the Game
  • Hatch's home run was the first of his collegiate career.
  • Redshirt sophomore Case Sullivan (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) had two hits to lead the Beacons.
  • Hack has been charged with no runs in seven of his last eight outings and seven of nine this season.
  • Valpo head coach Brian Schmack played at Northern Illinois from 1992 to 1995 before going on to play professionally including time in the big leagues with the Detroit Tigers.
  • Gauthier's brother JP played for Northern Illinois last year.
  • Not one, but two, Valpo grads are members of the baseball support staff for NIU. Kaleb Ellison M.S. '20 is their athletic trainer and Mike Haase '07 is their SID. (Yes, folks, we're stretching a bit for interesting notes from Tuesday.)
Up Next
The Beacons (10-30) will start a three-game, weekend series at Illinois State on Friday at 5 p.m. in Normal, Ill. The game will air on ESPN+.
 
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