THE NEED TO KNOWS
Ann Arbor, Mich. | Wilpon Complex
Thursday - 4:00 p.m.
Friday - 4:00 p.m.
Saturday - Noon
Sunday - 1:00 p.m.
Live Stats and Video: mgoblue.com
 
DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (3-12) will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face the Michigan Wolverines for a four-game series starting on Thursday. Originally scheduled to play four games in three days with a doubleheader on Saturday, the two teams will now start the series on Thursday and play one game per day from Thursday to Sunday.
 
The Huskies are coming off of a win in their last game on Sunday against Saint Louis with a 2-0 shutout. Starting pitcher Donovin Sims went eight innings to earn his second win of the season and was also named the MAC West Pitcher of the Week for the second time in his NIU career.
 
Sims will take the mound again in his next start this Sunday as he's projected to face Michigan right-hander Alec Rennard. The order may be different but the names are still the same this weekend for the NIU rotation as Nathan Thomas will take the ball on Thursday, Joe Hawks will pitch Friday and William Anderson will move to the Saturday with Sims taking the series finale.
 
Not scheduled to pitch but all but certain to see the mound at least once is senior relief pitcher Ryne Blanton who appeared three times last week, earning a save against Saint Louis on Sunday. Blanton has now pitched in eight of the Huskies' 15 games this season, doubling the appearances of any NIU pitcher this season.
 
Rennard has only started two games for the Wolverines in 2017 with a 2-0 record and 4.05 ERA. The other Michigan starting pitchers that will throw the first three games are projected to be Oliver Jaskie, Ryan Nutof, and Michael Hendrickson. Jaskie and Hendrickson are lefties who each have outstanding ERAs with Hendrickson at 2.00 and Jaskie at 2.05 in four starts. Nutof, a righty with a 4.87 ERA is 2-0 with 23 strikeouts in 20.1 innings pitched.
 
In their four games last week, NIU hitters got on base at a .350 clip with the top three Huskie batters all having a .500 on base percentage or better. Samuel Vega hit .455 over the last four games with a .538 on base percentage, Roderick Bynum hit .400 with a .500 on base percentage and Jacob Dunham hit .375 with a .500 on base percentage.
 
Michigan has three hitters with a batting average over .300 with sophomore second baseman Ako Thomas leading the way at .339 in 15 games. The big run producer for the Wolverines is senior catcher Harrison Wenson who's hitting .281 with four home runs and a team leading 15 RBIs.
 
NIU will face another Power Five team in a midweek match-up next week before starting their conference season at Toledo next weekend. HuskieBall fans can follow the team on Instagram @niu_baseball and on Twitter @NIU_Baseball