DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (15-34, 9-12 MAC) will play their last non-conference game of the regular season as they hit the road to play UW-Milwaukee (21-30, 10-17 Horizon) on Tuesday.
These two teams played earlier in the season at Ralph McKinzie Field in DeKalb as the Panthers handed the Huskies their only shutout loss of the season in a 2-0 affair. In that game, UWM starter Adam Reuss went six shutout innings allowing NIU's four hits and struck out five as Brandon Parr pitched three innings in relief for the save.
The Huskies are coming off of dropping all-three games in their series against Eastern Michigan where the NIU offense only produced six runs in three games after previously scoring 28 runs in their three-game series at Central Michigan at week earlier.
Individually, four NIU hitters have stood out as of late despite the recent offensive struggles. Freshman infielder
Tommy Szczasny has raised his average to .284 on the season, good for fourth on the team, with an outstanding .416 on-base percentage. Szczasny has walked 12 more times than his has struck out this season currently with 32 walks and only 20 strikeouts.
Juniors
Samuel Vega,
Roderick Bynum and
Jesus Tovar III have the top-three batting averages on the team with Vega at .303, Bynum at .299 and Tovar at .298. Bynum leads the team with five triples, all three have two home runs apiece and Vega leads the team with 25 RBIs.
The Panthers will send RHP Jake Sommers to the mound for his second start of the season against the Huskies on Tuesday. Sommers has a 5.30 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched in 19 appearances, 18 out of the bullpen, with 19 strikeouts and 11 walks.
UWM is led offensively by junior catcher Daulton Varsho who is hitting .370 on the season with ten home runs, 11 doubles, six triples and 37 RBIs. Varsho went 1-4 with a triple in the earlier meeting between these two teams and also scored the eventual game winning run on a throwing error on an attempted stolen base.
After this game, the Huskies will travel to Oxford, Ohio for their final regular season series against Miami (Ohio). HuskieBall fans can follow the team during the final week of the season on Twitter @NIU_Baseball and for updates on game time changes keep an eye on niuhuskies.com.
