DEKALB – The NIU baseball team (15-35, 9-12 MAC) will hit the road for Oxford, Ohio to face the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (21-32, 7-14 MAC) in a three-game series to close out the 2017 regular season. The series will start Thursday at 3:00 p.m. CT with game two on Friday also at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday's finale scheduled for a noon first pitch.
The Huskies will use the same weekend rotation as they did last week with lefty
George Faue getting his third-straight game-one start after back-to-back six inning outings. Right-handers
Joe Hawks and
Donovin Sims will take the ball in games two and three respectively after short outings against Eastern Michigan last weekend.
NIU's offense is in the midst of a slump after getting shutout against UW-Milwaukee on Tuesday as the Huskies have only scored seven runs in their last five games. In conference play as a whole, NIU has hit well for a .281 team average with 99 RBIs a team slugging percentage of .379 and a team on-base percentage of .378.
The Redhawks only have one starting pitcher scheduled as of now with games two and three to be announced later. In game one, Miami will throw right-hander Grant Hartwig who has a 1-4 record and a 5.33 ERA in nine starts and 14 appearances.
Miami's offense is led by junior first baseman Ross Haffey who is hitting .321 with 11 home runs and 33 RBIs in 2017. Haffey also has a tendency to strikeout as he has gone down on strikes 67 times in 209 at-bats.
The Huskies currently sit in sixth place in the Mid-American Conference standings with their 9-12 record. Western Michigan (9-12), Buffalo (8-13), and Toledo (8-13) are all fighting for the last three spots, with NIU and Miami, to go to the tournament as the top-eight teams qualify.
NIU will clinch a spot in the tournament with a win paired with a Toledo loss against Eastern Michigan. With six teams within three games of NIU in the MAC standings, the Huskies could finish the regular season as high as fourth place or could find themselves outside of the top-eight in the standings.
For updates on scores and any possible schedule changes, keep an eye on niuhuskies.com and on Twitter @NIU_Baseball.
