SAN ANTONIO, TX – The Northern Illinois University baseball team heads to the University of Incarnate Word for a four-game series this weekend.

NIU makes its first trip to the Lone Star State this season, and the first since the 2015 campaign as the Huskies look to build on their momentum after a 5-0 win over Western Kentucky February 25 to close out a four-game set with the Hilltoppers in Bowling Green, Kentucky last weekend.

After three tough losses to open the series, NIU bounced back in a big way – earning their second-straight Sunday victory on the back of freshman pitcher Michael Lasiewicz. The hard-throwing right-hander had the best performance of young collegiate career as he tossed seven solid innings, and yielded only four hits while fanning eight batters to up his season total to 14.

Lasiewicz' efforts earned the McHenry, Illinois native Mid-American Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week honors – the first for a Huskie pup (freshman) in five seasons – as he now ranks amongst the NCAA's top pitchers in earned run average (0.00).

Offensively, NIU had its second-best output as the Huskies laced 11 hits and scored single runs in the second, seventh and eighth innings while putting up a two-spot in the sixth inning for their third win of the season.

Senior Samuel Vega (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Southwestern Junior College) led the barrage going 3 for 5 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Redshirt junior Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) added a near perfect 2 for 3 performance with two runs scored while a Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska /Arizona Western College) double highlighted the Huskies' day at the dish.

In addition to Lasiewicz' masterpiece, three different NIU pitchers – Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Township), Matthew Hoffmann (East Dubuque, Ill./Wahlert Catholic) and Jacob DeLabio (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) – combined to shut down WKU's offense and hold the Hilltoppers to only one hit the rest of the contest.

This weekend's matchup with Incarnate Word will be the first for NIU in program history. The Cardinals enter the weekend with a 5-4 record after a 9-7 loss to No. 8 Texas A&M Wednesday.

--NIU--