The NIU baseball team dropped a pair of games in the Tallahassee Regional on Sunday, including to host and national 10-seed Florida State 7-4 in 10 innings to end the Huskies’ first run in the NCAA Tournament since 1972.

“I’m proud of our group, our toughness and our fight,” third-year head coach Ryan Copeland said. “This team changed the standards and expectations of NIU baseball forever. It hurts right now but we have a lot to build on that’s good. The journey is special to get to this point, especially for a program like us that doesn’t have much in postseason experience. For a team with 20 new players to be this close and play for each other, I couldn’t be more proud to be the head coach of this program.”

NIU (36-19), which won its first Mid-American Conference championship and earned its first NCAA Tournament win this postseason, finishes the year with a program record 36 wins. The Huskies improved by 15 victories over each of Copeland’s first two years with the team.

NIU took a 4-3 lead over the Seminoles (40-18) in the bottom of the seventh. Cole Smith drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring Vinny Spotofora.

The first three NIU runs came courtesy of Gavin Baldwin’s 16th and 17th home runs. He hit a two-run home run in the first, scoring Smith. He added a solo shot in the fourth that staked the Huskies to a 3-1 lead.

The graduate first baseman finished the season one shy of tying Colin Summerhill’s single-season home run record of 18 set in 2024. Baldwin finishes his NIU career with 33 home runs, the third-most in program history.

“Gavin was outstanding in the postseason when it mattered most,” Copeland said. “He had a great season, nearly broke the home run record, and kept us in the game. Gavin brought some toughness to our program and a good dynamic.”

After pitching almost three innings on Friday, Carter Cox pitched seven innings and allowed three runs. He struck out four and walked one, scattering eight hits. He threw 106 pitches after throwing almost 70 on Friday.

“It’s what you dream of, to play in an environment like this,” Cox said. “I made sure I was taking everything in. I had my boys behind me so I knew I had to throw strikes and do my thing.”

The Huskies opened the tournament with a win over Coastal Carolina and had a chance earlier Sunday to advance straight into the championship game, but fell 21-8 to St. John’s after scoring the first five runs of the game.

Marcus Romero started the scoring with a solo home run and Smith had a two-run double.

St. John’s and FSU play Monday for the title. The Seminoles will have to win twice to advance to the Super Regional.