THE NEED TO KNOWS
NIU (7-17, 3-0 MAC) vs Bowling Green (5-16, 1-2 MAC)
DeKalb, Ill.| Ralph McKinzie Field
Friday - 3:05 p.m.
Saturday G1 - Noon
Saturday G2 - 3:30 p.m.
Video - niuhuskies.com
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/niu/baseball
 
DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (7-17, 3-0 MAC) will play their first games at Ralph McKinzie Field this season as they host Bowling Green (5-16, 1-2 MAC) for a three-game series this weekend.
 
Due to rain in the forecast for Sunday, the series finale will be moved from its original 12:05 p.m. start on Sunday to play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first game on Saturday starting at noon.
 
The Huskies are 3-0 in Mid-American Conference play after sweeping last weekend's series at Toledo. NIU pitching combined to give up only nine runs in three games while the offense scored 32 runs bolstered by the 16-2 win in the series opener last Friday.
 
NIU will start three pitchers who combined to throw 20 of the 29 innings last weekend in Joe Hawks, Nathan Thomas and Donovin Sims. Hawks threw seven innings, allowing two runs on nine hits on Friday, Thomas pitched seven shutout innings in relief on Saturday to help NIU come back from down 4-0 to win 7-4 in extras and Sims pitched six quality innings, allowing two runs in Sunday's 9-3 Huskies' win.
 
The offense was balanced throughout the lineup as seven of the ten players to get a start hit over .300 for the series. Led by reigning MAC West Player of the Week Jacob Dunham's .750 average, going 9-12 at the plate against Toledo, NIU hit for a .360 team average against the Rockets.
 
The Huskies showed some pop in Toledo, cracking ten extra base hits with Tommy Szczasny knocking one double, one triple and one home run over the three-game span. Jesus Tovar III hit the other NIU home run over the weekend and Joe Jumonville was the only Huskie besides Szczasny to have multiple extra base hits.
 
Bowling Green is 1-2 in the conference so far after their first series against Eastern Michigan. These two teams met last year with NIU earning a sweep on the road in late April/early May in 2016.
 
The Falcons will throw three right-handers at the Huskies with Tyler Anderson getting the ball on Friday with Chase Antle and Zac Carey getting the doubleheader starts on Saturday. The Bowling Green offense has one hitter over the .300 mark on the season in infielder Greg Basalyga who is hitting .306 with two home runs on the season.
 
NIU baseball will have a specific promotion for each game this weekend with Friday being "Kiss March Goodbye Day" with Hershey Kiss Giveaways. Saturday's first game will be "Local Hero Day" honoring local police, fire, EMT and military with the second game of the Saturday doubleheader serving as "Family Day" where there will be a pitch tracker and post game run the bases for kids.
 
The weekend's schedule is subject to change so keep an eye on niuhuskies.com and @NIU_Baseball on twitter for any schedule updates.