DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (9-23, 5-4 MAC) will continue their second homestand of the year with a three-game series against Kent State (17-11. 5-1 MAC). The Golden Flashes sit on top of the MAC East standings and are second overall in the Mid-American Conference.
Friday's game at Ralph McKinzie Field has been changed from a 3:05 p.m. CT first pitch to now start at 1:05 p.m. to help avoid rain in the forecast.
After Tuesday's 17-3 loss at the hands of UIC, the Huskies are looking to get back to the style of play that saw them win their first three MAC games. Outscoring Toledo and Bowling Green 43-9 in four games, NIU has managed only 11 runs in their next five games.
Huskie pitchers have had success in conference with a 3.56 ERA in nine games holding opposing hitters to a .260 batting average with NIU hitters hitting .281 in MAC play. Since the calendar turned to April, the Huskies have gone 43-221 for a .195 batting average and 12 RBIs in seven games.
NIU will send the same three starters to the mound this weekend as the last two weekends in right-handers
Joe Hawks on Friday,
Nathan Thomas on Saturday and
Donovin Sims on Sunday. Hawks and Sims are looking to bounce back after Hawks suffered his first loss since March 4 and Sims has lost his last two starts. Thomas is coming off of his best start of the season against Buffalo, going six innings while allowing one run on three hits and striking out four for his second win of the season.
Overall, the Huskies are hitting for a .244 average as a team with their team splits favoring matchups against left-handed pitchers. With their top four hitters being right handed batters in
Jacob Dunham (.347),
Jesus Tovar III (.307),
Samuel Vega (.305) and
Joe Jumonville (.265), NIU has a .276 batting average against left-handed pitching as opposed to a .233 average against righties.
On Friday, NIU will see a lefty in Eli Kraus of Kent State who has a 3.74 ERA in seven starts and 43.1 innings pitched. Saturday the Golden Flashes will send Zach Willeman to the mound with a 4-3 record and a 6.19 ERA on the season. Sunday, Joey Murray will start for Kent State as Murray 4-0 on the season with a 1.70 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched.
Kent State will also bring the MAC's best offense into DeKalb for the weekend as they tout a conference-best .316 team batting average with three of the top five hitters in the MAC. Led by Luke Burch's .409 average, the Golden Flashes lineup projects to start seven players hitting above .290 on the season.
After this series, the Huskies will have a week away from conference games after by hitting their midway point of MAC play after 12 games. NIU will play four games in the state of Indiana next week to take on Indiana State in a midweek on Tuesday followed by a series at Evansville.
