Dec. 7, 2006

DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois named its 2007 baseball captains as selected by the coaches. Leading the squad will be the senior quartet of Mark Badgley, Matt German, Scott Simon and Jesse Seykora.

"Matt, Scott, and Mark have been in the program for five years and represent NIU in a first-class manner, be it in the classroom, in the community and on the field of play, and have been key ingredients in the two winningest team in school history," said head coach Ed Mathey. "While Jesse is only in his second year in the program, he exhibits all of the characteristics of the other three. They are all dedicated, hardworking, hard-nosed competitors with a will to win. They realize that they way to achieve the one common athletic goal of this team is by rolling up their sleeves and going out every day to improve."

Badgley (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) is NIU's career saves leader with 19 and appearances leader with 96. Last season, the righthander posted a 3.41 ERA with two saves in 32 appearances.

German (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) was a first-team All-MAC and an All-Mideast Region selection last season after saving 11 games with a microscopic 0.49 ERA in 29 appearances. The lefthander struck out 45 in 36.2 innings of work while yielding just 15 hits.

Simon (Algonquin, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) became NIU's career hit leader with the 245th of his career in the final game of the 2006 campaign. On the year, the first baseman hit. .329 with seven home runs and 38 RBI while collecting 18 doubles.

Seykora (Owatonna, Minn./North Iowa Area CC) hit .280 while ranking second with six home runs and 37 RBI in his first year after transferring from the junior college ranks. The third baseman racked up 17 doubles on 53 hits while starting all 52 games played.

The Huskies open the 2007 season with a three-game series at Texas Tech, beginning Feb. 23.