When NIU baseball needed three outs to preserve a four-run lead in arguably the biggest game in program history, coach Ryan Copeland didn’t hesitate to bring in ace Max Vaisvila for his first relief appearance of the year.

And when the Huskies make their first College World Series Regional appearance since 1972 at 7 p.m. Friday in the Tallahassee Regional against defending national runner-up Coastal Carolina, Vaisvila will be in the much more familiar position of starting.

Whatever the role, the senior has been dominant in his second season with the Huskies after struggling in 2025. He’s 8-0 with a 3.04 ERA, striking out 85 and walking 19 in 83 innings.

“I’ve had experience with every role throughout my career,” the Willowbrook graduate said. “It was no problem for me coming in in the ninth.”

Vaisvila preserved the 5-1 win Saturday against Toledo, giving the Huskies their first Mid-American Conference Tournament championship in their last year in the league.

The Huskies won 21 games in each of Copeland’s first two seasons before winning a record 35 games this year.

The turnaround doesn’t just belong to the Huskies. Vaisvila struggled last year, going 3-5 with a 9.00 ERA, appearing in 16 games and starting 11 prior to pitching for Wabash Valley for a year after starting his career at Loras.

Vaisvila said he’s gotten command of his fastball, which in turn lets him play his slider and curve off of it, basically letting him throw any pitch in any count to give him an advantage.

“He came here, earned a starting role but had a really tough junior season,” Copeland said. “He put his head down and went to work. We made some adjustments along the way with him. I can’t say enough about the time and effort Max has spent the past year trying to get better.”

Copeland said that’s the pattern he’s been looking for in trying to build the Huskies since he’s come on board. The program hadn’t made the MAC tournament since 2019 and hadn’t had a winning season since 2011 before this year.

Marcus Romero is hitting .338 with six home runs this year and is in his first season after transferring in from South Mountain, a JUCO in Arizona. Third baseman and Joliet Catholic grad Vinny Spotofora came back north after attending Lake Land College.

Then there are the power hitters. Gavin Baldwin in his second year with the club, hit .322 with 15 homers and 57 RBIs last year after transferring in from Southeast Missouri State. He’s hitting .268 with 15 homers and 57 RBIs this year.

Senior Caden Robertson is in his first year after spending two years at Central Oklahoma, and was named a D-II All-American by multiple publications. He’s hitting .282 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs this year.

“It was kind of surreal after we clinched the spot in the regional after winning the conference tournament,” Robertson said. “It was just awesome and an unreal moment. It’s still a lot to take in.”

Robertson said a former NIU player he played with in the past, John Lymon, told him about what Copeland was doing in DeKalb. After talking with him and the staff, Robertson was convinced NIU was the right spot for his final season.

Copeland said putting together and maintaining the roster at a school not exactly known for baseball requires a relentless recruiting mentality.

“You have to find a way to get players you shouldn’t,” Copeland said. “Then you have to believe in your player development systems. You can take some guys that maybe other schools pass on, you see some things you really like and you know you can make them better.”

Reputation helps too. Vaisvila said the success Copeland had at Illinois-Springfield was big part of getting him here, not to mention the 21-33 marks in 2024 and 2025 were the most wins NIU posted since a 24-win season in 2016.

“They had a vision and they had a track record at UIS,” Vaisvila said. “I knew they were coming in here to build something special and I wanted to be a part of that.”