AVON, Ohio (Interstat) — Max Vaisvila pitched seven innings of one-hit shutout ball and Northern Illinois routed Western Michigan 11-0 on Wednesday at Sprenger Stadium in a Mid-American Conference game.

Vaisvila struck out 10, walked none and allowed only a fourth-inning single to T. Mally as the Huskies (32-17, 14-7 MAC) bounced back from a weekend series loss at Western Michigan. The Broncos fell to 26-23 overall and 12-9 in conference play.

Northern Illinois broke the game open with a three-run second inning, then added four more in the third and two in the fourth before finishing with a two-run homer in the fifth.

The Huskies batted around in the second, scoring three unearned runs after a fielding error by the pitcher kept the inning alive. Gavin Baldwin singled up the middle, Vinny Spotofora was hit by a pitch, and Marcus Romero singled to load the bases. Ivan Dahlberg then reached on a throwing error that allowed two runs to score. Charlie Parcell added a run-scoring groundout to make it 3-0.

Baldwin crushed a two-run homer to left field in the third inning, scoring Nicolas Sandee and pushing the lead to 5-0. Later in the frame, Dahlberg lined a two-run single to left, plating Romero and Spotofora for a 7-0 advantage.

In the fourth, Spotofora doubled down the left-field line for an RBI, then scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-0. Cole Smith ended the scoring in the fifth with a two-run homer to left that scored Wyatt Wawro, who had doubled earlier in the inning.

Vaisvila’s performance was his longest and most dominant outing of the season. He retired the first eight batters he faced before Mally’s single. Vaisvila struck out the side in the third and fanned at least one batter in every inning except the first. He threw 71 of 96 pitches for strikes.

Western Michigan starter Zach Vriesenga was lifted after 2 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs and five hits while striking out one. Matt Hoover relieved and gave up four runs on two hits over 2 1/3 innings, striking out one. DJ Thompson tossed a scoreless sixth inning, allowing no hits.

Baldwin finished 3 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. Smith was 1 for 3 with a homer and two RBIs. Dahlberg drove in three runs despite going 1 for 3. Romero collected two hits and scored twice. Spotofora added an RBI double and walked once.

For the Broncos, Mally accounted for their only hit. The rest of the lineup struck out 13 times, including three strikeouts by both Matt Pilarski and Colton Ostrander.

The victory avenged a 7-6 loss to Western Michigan on Saturday in Kalamazoo, where Vaisvila had pitched only one scoreless inning in relief. Northern Illinois had dropped two of three in that series but has now won eight of its last 11 overall.

Western Michigan, which had won four of its previous six, managed only one baserunner after the fourth inning and never advanced a runner past first base.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Northern Illinois 6, Western Michigan 5, while Interstat’s ELO system gave the Broncos a 56.00 percent probability to win.