DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (15-31, 9-9 MAC) will return to Ralph McKinzie Field for their final home series of 2017 as they host Eastern Michigan (18-30, 9-9 MAC) for three games starting on Friday.
The Huskies are coming off of a road series at Central Michigan where they came away with one win in the series opener, scoring a season-high 18 runs. Offensively, the NIU hitters accomplished feats that have stood for years in the series against the Chippewas.
Jason Gasser recorded the first six-RBI game by a Huskie since 2015 in the NIU win on May 5 and
Roderick Bynum's two triple game on May 6 was the first by a Huskie since 2011 also the first NIU game where the team hit two or more triples since 2013 with
Tommy Hook adding a triple for three by the team on the day.
As a team, NIU is hitting well in Mid-American Conference play and once the calendar turned to May as the Huskies are hitting .338 in May and .298 in conference play. In MAC play, NIU has also been getting on base at a .392 clip and also hitting for power with a .400 slugging percentage with 93 RBIs in 18 games.
The Huskies have shuffled their starting rotation for this weekend's series as
George Faue will get the start for the second-straight Friday after getting a spot start and win last week.
Joe Hawks will return to the mound Saturday after getting scratched late before last Friday's game against Central Michigan. Sunday's starter for NIU is still to be determined as
Ryne Blanton was the game-three starter against Central Michigan, going four innings.
The Eagles will throw all right-handers at NIU this weekend as Sam Delaplane on Friday, Brad Allen on Saturday and Brent Mattson on Sunday. Delaplane is the staff ace with a 2.80 ERA in eight starts and 64.1 innings with 74 strikeouts, good for second in the MAC, this season.
EMU has one hitter above the .300 mark in 2017 in John Montgomery who is hitting .301 with 10 home runs on the year, tied for second in the conference for home runs this season. Jordan Peterson and Brennan Williams have the next highest batting averages on the team with .288 for Peterson and .280 for Williams.
NIU baseball will host different promotions all weekend with Friday being Strike Out ALS Day, Saturday will be Senior Day and Sunday will celebrate Mother's Day and have a post-game graduation ceremony for all NIU baseball players who earned their degree this year.
The Huskies last four games will all be road games with a midweek game at Milwaukee on Tuesday and the final conference series of 2017 at Miami from Thursday to Saturday.
