I turned on ESPN+ to watch the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament over the weekend and saw a familiar face on the mound.

The screen shot read:

Danny Cihocki

Princeton, Ill.

The former Princeton Tiger standout got the call out of the bullpen for Northern Illinois in its last two games in their NCAA Tournament run in Tallahassee, Fla. on national TV, facing Coastal Carolina and host and No. 10 Florida State.

It was the Huskies’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1972.

How cool is that?

“It was a blast playing in that environment,” Cihocki said. “That’s why I play college baseball to experience moments like that. To play in the big games and see the atmosphere of FSU. It was really cool, a really fun experience.”

Playing on national TV was icing on the cake.

“I knew we were going to be on national TV,” he said. “It didn’t really change anything what we do as team. But it was definitely cool being on national TV against the No. 10-ranked team in the country.

“We were fortunate to play good baseball at the right time, win the MAC and go to a regional and try to compete to go to a World Series.”

Cihocki, a 2023 Princeton grad, said what stood out the most was the home FSU crowd.

“The atmosphere that FSU has ... their war chants, their clapping every pitching trying to make it hard on the opposing team. It was really cool to see,” he said.

Cihocki entered the Coastal Carolina game in the bottom of the third inning with the Huskies down 4-2. NIU erupted for eight runs in the fourth to go up 10-2, leaving Cihocki, who allowed three runs with two strikeouts over 2⅓ innings, the winning pitcher in the 12-10 final.

Two nights later, Cihocki was tagged for the loss in a season-ending defeat to Florida State, again coming in relief for only the second time this season.

He made 123 pitches in two days and left it all on the mound.

“They called my name in the bullpen. I wanted the ball and I was ready to go,” Cihocki said. “I threw a lot of pitches. (I) do what I could to help my team win those. I was able to do that and happy to do that for us.”

Retired Princeton coach Wick Warren was tickled to see his former Tiger pitch in the big stage.

“It was awesome. A PHS player on ESPN. Big time environment. Danny did well,” warren said.

With his history-making season complete for NIU, Cihocki has set his sights on new adventures. On Wednesday, he announced on social media he would be entering the transfer portal as a senior with one year of eligibility remaining.

He said the timing is right to make the move with NIU leaving the MAC in favor of the Horizon League.

“NIU is moving conferences next year. I wanted to either stay in the (MAC) or go bigger like the Big Ten or something to go play and compete vs. those guys,” Cihocki said.

In his post, Cihocki states he brings 134-plus DI innings with 16 starts, including four pitches - fastball (89-92 mph), curveball (78-81), slider (80-83) and changeup (82-84).

In his second season for NIU coming out of Lakeland College, Cihocki went 7-3 this year with a 5.34 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 92.2 innings. He made 15 starts prior to his first two relief appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

He earned his first career win for NIU on Feb. 28, 2025 at SIUE, striking out five Cougars while allowing one earned run in 2⅔ innings in a 5-4 win. He finished the 2025 season with a 2-2 record and 5.71 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 40 innings over 22 appearances.

Cihocki pitched his freshman season at Lakeland, leading the Lakers in wins with a 7-4 record, striking out 80 batters in 60⅔ innings.

As a senior at Princeton, Cihocki went 5-3 with a 1.63 ERA and 89 strikeouts, ranked in the top 20 in the state.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com