THE NEED TO KNOWS
NIU (0-0) vs. South Dakota State (0-0) & Chicago State (0-0)
Phoenix, Ariz. (Camelback Ranch)
First Series
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/niu/baseball
 
SCHEDULE
Friday - 10:00 a.m. vs. SDSU, 2:00 p.m. vs. CSU
Saturday – 2:00 p.m. vs. SDSU
Sunday – 1:00 p.m. vs. CSU
 
NIU PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday G1 – William Anderson
Friday G2 – Joe Hawks
Saturday – Donovin Sims
Sunday – Nathan Thomas
 
DEKALB – The NIU baseball team will start the 2017 season as they head to Phoenix, Arizona to face South Dakota State and Chicago State for four total games over the weekend. Games will be played at Camelback Ranch, the spring training home of the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
 
This will be the Huskies third trip to Camelback Ranch in the past four years with their first trip coming in 2014 when they played Minnesota in a three-game series and last year where they played Boston College in a four game series.
 
NIU finished the 2016 season 24-32 with a 14-10 record in Mid-American Conference play, entering the MAC Tournament as the fourth seed. This season, the Huskies were picked to finished fourth in the MAC West in the Preseason Coaches Poll with one first place vote and one vote to win the MAC Tournament.
 
The Huskies are returning three All-MAC performers in MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year William Anderson, All-MAC First Team infielder Brad Wood and All-Defensive first baseman Tommy Hook. Along with Wood and Hook, NIU will have three other position players returning that started over 30 games in Brandon Mallder, Luke Yapp and Carl Russell.
 
Wood hit .277 in 2016 with 37 runs scored and 17 RBIs with a .958 fielding percentage mainly at second base. Hook finished the season with a .990 fielding percentage at first for the Huskies and also added a .262 batting average with 35 runs scored and 17 RBIs.
 
Joining Anderson as returners to the NIU starting rotation are senior, Joe Hawks and junior Donovin Sims who combined for 16 starts last season. Anderson finished 2016 with a 5-4 record and a 4.08 ERA, Sims also finished with a 5-4 record and a 4.32 ERA, and Hawks ended last season at 2-3 with a 6.75 ERA.
 
The back-end of the Huskies' bullpen will look to a one-two punch of senior Ryne Blanton who recorded nine saves and a 5.30 ERA in 2016 and redshirt junior Andrew Frankenreider who is returning from an arm injury that saw him miss the 2016 season after recording nine saves in 2015.
 
The weekend rotation will feature Anderson, Hawks, and Sims the top-three returners in starts from 2016 and freshman Nathan Thomas will get the first start of his college career on Sunday.

All four games in the series will have live stats on www.sidearmstats.com/niu/baseball and Huskies fans can also follow the team on their travels on Instagram @niu_baseball and on Twitter @NIU_Baseball.