DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (10-26, 6-6 MAC) will play their first non-conference weekend series in a month as they head to Evansville, Ind. to face the Purple Aces (13-23, 4-5 MVC). This weekend serves as NIU's bye week from Mid-American Conference play since Akron dropped their program in 2016 and the conference only has 11 baseball teams.
With the series starting on Friday, there was a slight change in the schedule as Friday's game has been moved to a 4:30 p.m. CT start with rain expected in the forecast. There is also a chance of rain on Saturday, any delays or cancellations will be announced on Twitter @NIU_Baseball and on niuhuskies.com.
The Huskies are expected to start righties
Joe Hawks and
Donovin Sims on Friday and Saturday as Sims has moved from his normal Sunday role to pitch this Saturday. Sunday's starter for NIU TBA as
Nathan Thomas only pitched one inning last Saturday against Kent State with
William Anderson pitching six innings in relief. Also a potential candidate for NIU on the mound on Sunday is lefty
George Faue, who has made two mid-week starts and has the most innings (28.2) out of any NIU relief pitcher.
The NIU pitching staff is hoping to regain it's early MAC play form that saw them give up only nine runs to help the Huskies get off to a 4-0 start in conference. Since then, the Huskies have given up six or more runs in seven of their last 11 contests.
For Evansville, they will throw three right-handers against NIU in Patrick Schnieders, Connor Strain and Justin Hayden. Strain has the best numbers of the three with a 2.95 ERA in 39.2 innings with 39 strikeouts and 24 walks. By the numbers, their pitcher with the best stuff might be Schnieders, who has 56 strikeouts in 46.2 innings but has walked 33 batters and holds a 4.24 ERA.
The Huskies are coming off of back-to-back eight-run performances from their offense after starting conference play 4-0, scoring 43 runs in their first four MAC games. Despite their loss at Indiana State on Tuesday, NIU pushed eight runs across the plate, including a six-run fourth inning, all generated with two outs.
Last Sunday, the Huskies scored eight on their way to a walk-off win over Kent State. Powered by the long ball and five two-out RBIs, NIU scored more than four runs for the first time since March 31 against Bowling Green when they won 11-0.
NIU baseball will return home next week to play four-straight home games at Ralph McKinzie Field starting next Tuesday when they host Minnesota. They will head back to MAC play next Friday as they host Ball State for a three-game series.
