OXFORD, Ohio – The NIU baseball team (17-36, 11-13 MAC) won their regular season finale against Miami (Ohio) (22-34, 8-16 MAC) by a score of 5-4 to win the series. The Huskies will wait for other games around the Mid-American Conference to determine their seed and their opponent for their first round game.
 
"Great way to end the regular season and start feeling good about the tournament," Head Coach Mike Kunigonis said. "We had many different guys step up for us this weekend."
 
NIU pitchers gave up three earned runs on Saturday behind starter Donovin Sims five innings where he allowed five hits, three runs, two earned, with two walks and four strikeouts. Freshman Blake Walker came in out of the Huskies' bullpen to pitch three shutout innings allowing only two hits before senior closer Ryne Blanton pitched the ninth inning to earn his fifth save of the year.
 
Huskie hitters walked 11 times behind three walks apiece from freshman shortstop Tommy Szczasny and junior catcher Mike Roberson. Szczasny added two RBIs, one from a walk with the bases loaded in a sixth inning where NIU took a 4-3 lead on five walks in the inning after trailing 3-2 and the game-winning RBI on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
 
"It has been nice to see some of our younger guys start to come into their own," Kunigonis said. "We will have two good days of practice before we head to Avon."
 
NIU can either be the seventh or the sixth seed in the MAC tournament with potential opponents being the number two seed Central Michigan or the number three seed Eastern Michigan. For updates on the MAC tournament, follow the NIU baseball team on Twitter @NIU_Baseall or keep an eye on niuhuskies.com.