DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (9-22, 5-4 MAC) will play in-state opponent UIC (20-8, 10-2 Horizon) for the second time in three weeks. The Flames won the first game two weeks ago at Curtis Granderson Stadium in Chicago by a final of 6-1.
UIC will face the same starter they saw in their March 28 matchup in freshman right-hander Jacob Key who is 4-0 in five starts with a team-leading 1.38 ERA. Against NIU, Key went six shutout innings allowing four hits and one walk while striking out two batters.
The Huskies are coming off of a 1-3 week, winning one game of their three-game conference series against Buffalo in New York over the weekend. They also fell in their midweek matchup against fellow Horizon Conference team in Milwaukee 2-0.
NIU's win last week came in their second game against the Bulls on Sunday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader. The Huskies took the game 2-1 behind six quality innings from freshman RHP
Nathan Thomas who earned his second win of the year.
Starting on the mound for the Huskies in Tuesday's midweek against UIC is junior LHP
George Faue for his second-straight midweek start after pitching three and a third last week against Milwaukee. Faue has the most innings of any NIU pitcher with less than five starts with 24.1 innings pitched in ten appearances and one start.
The NIU offense has cooled off since the calendar turned to April. After scoring 43 runs in their first four conference games, the Huskies have scored only 11 runs in six games this month. As a whole, the Huskie hitters are batting .186 so far in April, the lowest of any month this season.
NIU pitchers are currently having their best month as a group despite a 1-5 record in their six games this month. Led by the bullpen, four different pitchers have yet to give up a run in April as Faue,
Andrew Frankenreider,
Ryne Blanton and
Eric Hammer have not given up a run yet in the month with the first three throwing multiple innings.
Embracing new roles in the pitching staff are Thomas, who is now a part of the weekend rotation for conference play and sophomore
William Anderson, who is now pitching in high leverage middle innings out of the NIU bullpen. Thomas has a 3.86 ERA in his two April starts with nine strikeouts in 11.2 innings with one win and one loss. Anderson has appeared in three games out of the bullpen in April with a 2.35 ERA in seven and two thirds innings.
Tomorrow's game against the Flames is scheduled for a 3:05 p.m. CT start at Ralph McKinzie Field and can be subject to change based on weather. HuskieBall fans can follow the team for schedule updates and more on Twitter @NIU_Baseball or at niuhuskies.com.
