A day after putting up 17 hits, offense came at a premium Saturday for the Central Michigan baseball team in Game 2 of its series against Northern Illinois.

Luckily for the Chippewas, they got a superb pitching performance from junior right-hander Zach Cooper en route to a 3-1 win in front of 351 at Theunissen Stadium.

Cooper allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings of work, earning his third win of the season. He held a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings, until a single by NIU second baseman Alex Beckmann broke it up.

“It was definitely one of (my) better ones this season,” Cooper said of his start. “Everything was just working. It was one of those days where everything just kind of clicked.”

Both teams remained off the scoreboard through five innings, with both pitchers commanding the game for their respective teams. NIU starter Tom Barry worked out several early-inning jams, as CMU left a pair of runners on base in the first and fourth innings.

In the sixth, the Chippewas finally broke through. Sophomore second baseman Jordan Dean connected on a double to left field and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After junior designated hitter Jordan Adams walked, senior left fielder Tom Howard smacked a pitch to right field that misjudged and turned into a two-run triple.

“We knew we were going to have to get a hit sooner or later,” said CMU head coach Steve Jaksa. “(Howard) had just missed it with first and second (in the fourth). I told him to square it up next time, and I guess he did.”

Cooper ran into trouble in the seventh, giving up a walk and back-to-back singles, allowing the Huskies to cut CMU’s lead to 2-1. With the tying run in scoring position and no outs, Jaksa opted to leave his starting pitcher in. In response, Cooper struck out NIU’s Brian Reigler and Tom Kotis and got leadoff hitter Jamison Wells to pop out.

“He just gave his all – that’s all you can ask for,” Jaksa said. “Just an outstanding performance. Really, you couldn’t have asked for anything better than what he did.”

With Barry out of the game in the seventh, the Chippewas tacked on a third run with a sacrifice fly from Dean (2-for-3) after a pair of hits and walks off reliever Ben Etcheverry.

Senior left-hander Mike Nixon, after pitching 2 2/3 innings of relief Friday, came in and pitched two perfect innings.

“Mike said he could only go short today,” Jaksa said. “As he went out there, as he started to retire those guys, his pitch count was real low. We weren’t sure (how long he could go) because he threw 38 pitches yesterday, but he pitched really well.”

Juniors Tyler Hall and William Arnold each had two hits for CMU, which improves to 23-20 and 11-6 in the Mid-American Conference.

The Chippewas are tied with Eastern Michigan for second place in the MAC West after Toledo beat Western Michigan twice on Saturday, taking a half-game lead in the division. NIU falls to 20-20 overall and 10-7 in the MAC.

“We hurt ourselves a little bit in the early part of the year,” Cooper said. “To be able to stay on the top of the West is positive.”

CMU will wrap up its series against NIU at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Theunissen Stadium. Senior Jake Sabol takes the mound for the first time since his rocky appearance last week at Ball State.