AVON, Ohio — No. 4 Northern Illinois (32-17) defeated No. 5 Western Michigan (26-24) with a 11-0 victory in seven innings at ForeFront Field on Wednesday in the second game of the 2026 MAC Baseball Championship.
The Huskies move on to play No. 1 Miami at 2PM ET on Thursday, May 20 on ESPN+ inside ForeFront Field.
Northern Illinois' offense was led by a powerful third inning, scoring four runs, and was bolstered by two home runs throughout the game.
Max Vaisvila delivered a stellar performance on the mound, throwing a complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts while allowing only one hit.
Northern Illinois showcased strong performances from several key players. Senior Cole Smith made a significant impact with a home run, driving in two runs and scoring twice.
Senior Gavin Baldwin also excelled, contributing three hits, including a home run, while scoring three times and bringing in two runs.
Catcher Ivan Dahlberg was a standout with three RBIs, adding a hit and a stolen base to his performance.
Western Michigan's standout players included Tanner Mally, who made a mark as a junior center fielder with a hit in his only plate apearance while also reaching base after being hit by a pitch.
Postgame Quotes
Northern Illinois head coach Ryan Copeland
"Well, it's nice to have him (Max Vaisvila) back. We missed in the last couple of weeks. He's as good as it gets, probably runner-up for Pitcher of the Year. Fastball, both sides of the plate, change up whenever he wanted, just the ultimate, pitchability guy. It's huge to be able to get through game one of a conference tournament without using any of your bullpen is huge knowing that we have a long way to go. Couldn't be more proud of Max and bouncing back after a couple of weekends down.
"You look at our lineup, 1 through 9, there's actually an argument to flip it, right? You could take your 9 hole lead them off with Charlie (Parcell) there. Just really deep. We recruit for depth. We want all of our guys to feel they can get in the lineup do some damage. I'm really happy with our bats and our process. We were relentless there early and did a great job off of a really good arm in their guy. We were able to get into the bullpen pretty early. We did a little bit of everything. We had some good ball luck, but really drove the baseball, took our walks as well."
