The NIU baseball team remained undefeated in the postseason, beating Coastal Carolina 12-10 on Friday night in the first game of the Tallahassee Regional, its first NCAA tournament win in program history.

“This was just a remarkable baseball game,” said head coach Ryan Copeland as the Huskies won their fifth game in a row. “It took three weekend starters and one of our better relievers. I loved the game plan offensively. As we’ve done all year, we were resilient and tough and found a way to battle back. You have to win game one of a regional. You gotta win. It’s just hard to climb out of that hole in the loser’s bracket. This was a great team win.”

The Huskies (36-17) trailed 4-0 earlier but scored eight in the fourth for the win. Max Vaisvila, 8-0 on the season with an ERA just over 3.00, lasted just 2⅔ innings and gave up four runs, but only one was earned. He allowed four hits and two walks and struck out two while throwing 69 pitches.

Danny Cihocki went 2⅓ for the win, allowing three earned, three hits. two walks and two strikeouts. The Huskies’ other weekend starters, as Copeland said, was Cooper Cohn, who went 2⅔ scoreless, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four on 62 pitches.

Carter Cox went 1⅓ for the save, though he allowed three runs, all earned.

Caden Robertson led the offensive charge, driving in three runs, all in the eight-run fourth.

Coastal Carolina (37-21) led 4-0 after two innings, scoring three in the bottom of the second inning. The Huskies put two runs on the board in the top of the third. Wyatt Wawro led off with an infield single, NIU’s first hit of the night. Smith followed with a triple to left field to score Wawro and put NIU in the run column. Sandee then put down a bunt single up the first base line to bring in Smith and cut the Chanticleers lead to 4-2.

“To pretend there wasn’t some nerves from our group early, we’d be lying,” Copeland said. “I thought we did a good job settling in. You just got to go get that first contact, feel that first ground ball, secure the catch. Once we did that I thought we were pretty relentless offensively and played some really good baseball.”

In the fourth, Marcus Romero led off with a single, getting to third on an Ivan Dahlberg double. Robertson hit a deep fly ball to centerfield that scored Romero and got the Huskies within a run at 4-3. Parcell then laced a single through the right side to give NIU runners at the corners with one out. Wawro then dropped a bunt which Coastal Carolina pitcher Colby Richardson threw wide of first base, scoring Dahlberg to tie the game 4-4.

The Huskies weren’t done. Smith drew a walk to load the bases for Sandee, who was hit by a pitch, which scored Parcell and put NIU up 5-4.

Gavin Baldwin followed with a walk to bring in Wawro and make the score 6-4. After a strikeout, Coastal Carolina brought in its closer Darin Horn. Romero got his second hit of the inning with a single to center, plating two more runs to put the Huskies up 8-4. After a Dahlberg walk, Robertson cleared the bases with a two-run single up the middle to give NIU a 10-4 advantage.

“I’m a big believer that hitting is contagious,” Robertson said after his fifth three-RBI game of the year. “Whenever you see one good at-bat after another, it just feels like you’re not going to be the guy to make an out. You just want to keep the rally going.”

NIU will face St. John at 6 p.m. tonight, with the winner advancing to the championship game. The loser will face either Florida State or Coastal Carolina.