April 16, 2007

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Game 32: NORTHERN ILLINOIS (20-11) VS. ST. XAVIER (14-12)
Tuesday, April 17: 3 p.m. CDT
Location: Ralph McKinzie Field, DeKalb
Live Coverage: GameTracker
SERIES INFORMATION
All-Time Record: NIU leads 11-3
Last Meeting: 2005, NIU 4-1 at DeKalb
Ed Mathey at NIU against St. Xavier: 3-1

Game 33: NORTHERN ILLINOIS (20-11) AT IOWA (13-13)
Wednesday, April 18: 6 p.m. CDT
Location: Duane Banks Field, Iowa City, Iowa
Live Coverage: GameTracker
Radio: WLBK (1360-AM) and niuhuskies.com
SERIES INFORMATION
All-Time Record: Iowa leads 14-6
Last Meeting: 2005, Iowa 8-7 at Iowa City
Ed Mathey against Iowa: 2-1

SHORT HOPS
-Closer Matt German is the reigning MAC West Pitcher of the Week and became the NIU career saves leader on April 14. He has saved each of the last six Huskie victories while not allowing a hit during that stretch. The last earned run scored on German came Feb. 25 at Texas Tech.

-NIU trails only Southern Illinois (23-12, .657) for the best record among Division I programs in the Land of Lincoln this season.

-The Huskies are off to their best MAC start (9-3) in history and their best overall in three decades (1977). NIU has won 14 of its last 18 contests.

-NIU rallied to win the final two games of its series against Miami last weekend, marking the first series triumph over the RedHawks in school history.

-The Huskies are 89th nationally in this week's RPI rankings by Boyd's World, second best among Illinois schools and third highest of MAC institutions.

-NIU entered 2007 as the only Illinois school represented on both the NCBWA Stopper of the Year (Matt German) and Brooks Wallace Award (Scott Simon) watch lists.

-Matt German is listed on the Stopper of the Year watch list and was the "Projected MAC Pitcher of the Year" by Collegiate Baseball in the preseason preview issue.

PROBABLE PITCHERS
Tuesday: Cody Beck (0-0)
Wednesday: Adam Holdenrid (0-1)

LEADING THE LAND OF LINCOLN: With Matt German and Scott Simon entering the season on national watch lists for Stopper of the Year and the Wallace Award (player of the year), NIU now has accumulated three nominees over the past two seasons for those awards. The duo makes NIU the ONLY Illinois school with a player on each of the two preseason lists. During the past two years, the Huskies have combined for the most nominees on the those watch lists of any school in the state.

Northern Illinois 3
Southern Illinois 2
Northwestern 2
Illinois 1
Illinois-Chicago 1

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY: The Huskies total of three Stopper of the Year and Wallace Award Watch List nominees over the past two seasons compares favorably with the "elite" programs in college baseball.

Cal State Fullerton 5
Miami (Fla.) 5
Rice 5
Texas 4
Clemson 4
Northern Illinois 3
Stanford 3
Southern California 3
Florida State 3
South Carolina 2

RED HOT: At 9-3, the Huskies are off to their best MAC start in history and their best start under Ed Mathey at 20-11. NIU opened MAC play with four consecutive wins for the first time in its history and have won all three league series to date. NIU has won 14 of its last 18 games (.778), including a six consecutive wins from from March 17-28, the longest win streak under Ed Mathey.

MATHEY MILESTONES: Head coach Ed Mathey is within striking distance of second place and his next win will move him into third on the NIU career victory list. In 2006, he reached a pair of milestones, notching his 100th victory at NIU on April 12 and his 300th career victory on April 23. Mathey is the fourth coach in school history to reach the 100-win plateau and ascended three places up the victory list during the year.

NIU Career Coaching Victories
1. Spanky McFarland 143
2. Walt Owens 133
3. George Evans 126
4. Ed Mathey 125

SPEAKING GERMAN: The reigning MAC West Pitcher of the Week, closer Matt German recently became NIU's career saves leader, currently with 21. He has saved each of the last six Huskie victories without allowing a hit to run his season saves total to eight to go along with a career-high three wins. Of the past 44 NIU victories, German has factored into 24 of them (55%) either by win or save. During the 11-inning win at Akron on April 1, German batted after a substitution eliminated the DH spot for the Huskies and delivered a RBI single in his first collegiate plate appearance. He entered 2007 as the "Projected MAC Pitcher of the Year" by Collegiate Baseball after becoming the first Huskie to earn ABCA first-team All-Mideast Region honors while adding a first-team All-MAC selection a year ago.

German's Last Two Seasons
Year W-L SV ERA G IP H ER SO
2007 3-1 8 0.34 19 26.1 14 1 35
2006 2-1 11 0.49 29 36.2 15 2 45
Total 5-2 19 0.43 48 63.0 29 3 80

SIMON SAYS: Prior to the season, first baseman Scott Simon was named by Collegiate Baseball as one of the "Top Players to Watch" in the MAC and listed as the league's No. 3 Player of the Year candidate by Perfect Game Crosschecker. Simon owns several NIU record, including career marks for hits (281), RBI (183), doubles (62) and at-bats (803) while ranking fifth in runs (135) and seventh in home runs (19). He also owns the single season records for hits (89), doubles (24), and RBI (71), all set in 2004.

TO AIR IS HUMAN: The duo of Scott Simon and Matt German are not only flying high on the field, but both are pursuing pilot's licenses with the hopes of becoming commerical pilots.

PITCHING PLAUDITS: NIU's second-quarter pitching stock rose significantly, as the staff posted a 2.88 team ERA in the 14 games since returning from its spring trip. During that stretch, Huskie hurlers improved across the board, allowing 102 hits and 39 earned runs in 122.0 innings. As a result, the Huskies' team ERA dropped over a full run and a half by the end of that span.

Gms W-L ERA H/9 IP WHIP K/BB BA
1-14 7-7 6.07 10.8 1.7 1.80 .301
15-28 11-3 2.88 7.5 1.2 2.46 .224
29-31 2-1 4.67 10.0 1.3 4.50 .278
MAC 9-3 3.30 8.2 1.2 3.39 .236

HOT HITTING HOOD: Freshman Jordin Hood is hitting .424 and slugging .758 with two home runs, nine RBI and 14 hits in his last eight games. During that stretch, Hood has five multi-hit games, set and matched career-highs with three RBI and equaled the school-record with two triples on April 7 at Kent State. On April 9, he became the first Huskie freshman since 2001 to earn MAC West Player of the Week honors.

BADGE OF HONOR: Mark Badgley has taken on the role of pitching staff "swing man" by making eight relief appearances and starting six games. Less than 15 hours after pitching an inning in relief, Badgley set career highs with eight strikeouts and 6.1 innings on Feb. 27 at Texas Tech and was named MAC West Pitcher of the Week. In his most recent start April 3 vs. Illinois State, Badgley had a career-best nine strikeouts in a six-inning victory. In his next appearance, he tossed a career-high 6.2 innings of relief and earned the win April 7 at Kent State.

SEYKORA STUFF: Listed as one of the "Top Players to Watch" in the MAC by Collegiate Baseball, Jesse Seykora is currently among the MAC's top-five leaders in five offensive categories. He put up video game-like numbers during NIU's eight-game spring trip, hitting .500 (16-for-32), slugging 1.031, and belting five home runs with 15 RBI and 17 runs scored to earn MAC West Player of the Week accolades and mention on the College Baseball Foundation's national honor roll. In addition to posting a 12-game hit streak (March 2-20), Seykora surpassed his 2006 home run total (6) in just 17 games.

FORMIDABLE FEENEY: Trevor Feeney came within two outs from a third consecutive complete game victory on April 6 at Kent State, setting a career-high with 12 strikeouts while matching the second-highest NIU game output. Feeney owns a 26:3 strikeout to walk ratio in MAC games and ranks among the league's overall leaders in wins, complete games and innings pitched.

Feeney's First Three MAC Starts
Opponent (Dec.) IP H ER BB K
3/23 vs. Ohio (W) 9.0 5 3 1 5
3/30 at Akron (W) 9.0 7 3 0 3
4/6 at Kent St. (W) 8.1 6 0 1 12

A GOOD REED: Danny Reed posted a 15-game hit streak from March 2-28, tying him for the highest NIU mark on record with Chuck Laird (1997), Rob Marconi and Joe Mazzuca (both in 2003). He also owns a separate streak of seven games and has hit safely in 24 of 27 games started this season. Currently the MAC's fifth-leading hitter at .364, Reed collected five RBI, including the bases clearing game-winning double, on March 4 at Southern Illinois.

EVEN STEVENS: Shortstop Bobby Stevens began the year with a pair of preseason accolades as Baseball America tabbed him as a first-team All-MAC selection and Perfect Game Crosschecker listed him as the MAC's No. 4 projected pick for the 2008 Draft. At the end of the 2006 summer season, Stevens earned mention from Baseball America as the No. 3 pro prospect in the Central Illinois Collegiate League. The sophomore currently leads the MAC with 35 runs scored and ranks second with 14 stolen bases. On April 8 vs. Miami, Stevens lifted the Huskies to victory with a three-run seventh inning home run, part of his two homer, four-RBI outburst.

STATE SUCCESS: Under head coach Ed Mathey, NIU has a 36-17 (.679) record against intrastate opposition. Over the past two seasons, NIU has defeated each Land of Lincoln opponent faced, including victories over SIU, Chicago State, Bradley and a season sweep of Illinois State in 2007. Last season, the Huskies went 11-2 (.846) with wins over all seven Land of Lincoln opponents for the highest winning percentage of any Illinois school against intrastate foes.

HEAVY METAL BASEBALL: NIU leads the MAC with a .296 team batting average, an increase of 21 points over last season, and has put up 10+ hits on 17 occassions this season. The Huskies have topped the 10-run plateau six times, including outbursts of 17 and 18 runs on March 10 against Maine and March 11 against Long Island, marking the highest two-game total under Ed Mathey.

GRAND THEFT OF THE BASES: The Huskies have made a habit of successful base stealing by converting 52 of 68 attempts (76 percent) in 31 games this season. NIU's total of 52 thefts ranks second in the MAC and the Huskies have swiped a base in 11 of 12 league contests, including a high of three at Kent State on April 7. The team's overall high is five stolen bases, came three times, most recently at Illinois State on April 10 when Daniel Jewett led the way with a team-best three steals. Three Huskies rank among the MAC's top 10 in steals led by Bobby Stevens (2nd) and followed by Jewett (3rd) and Jordin Hood (9th).

STREAKERS: Four Huskies have put together hit streaks of at least 10 games this season led by Danny Reed's 15-game mark. Jesse Seykora (12) and Daniel Jewett (10) added long streaks and Scott Simon carried over an eight-game streak from 2006 and raised it to 10 by hitting safely in the first two contests this season.Reed, Seykora and Jewett were just one game from having concurrent double-digit streaks on March 23.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: NIU has four senior captains for the 2007 season: P Mark Badgley, P Matt German, 3B Jesse Seykora, and 1B Scott Simon. The quartet was selected by the coaching staff during fall practice.

SENIOR MOMENTS: The Huskies have 17 upperclassmen on their roster, including eight seniors: P Mark Badgley, 2B Marc Besteman, P Matt German, OF Daniel Jewett, OF/P Brett Kellam, C/OF Tim Ryan, 3B Jesse Seykora, and 1B Scott Simon.