DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend when it hosts the Eastern Michigan Eagles in a three-game series beginning Friday at Ralph McKinzie Field.
 
"We've played a tough schedule," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "Every team we've played is in a conference that's ranked significantly higher than that MAC. Of our 16 losses, 10 of them have been saves which means we lost that game by three runs or less. That means we've been in a lot of games. We were close to knocking off two Big 12 teams, and that says a lot about our team. We're playing at a high level, but we're not getting rewarded right now for a lot of the hard work we've put in."
 
NIU (4-16) has battled through a tough opening schedule, having played four teams that already have double-digit wins. The Huskies have played eight games decided by two runs or less, winning only two of them. The offense for NIU has shown it can score runs, putting up five runs or more in eight games including a season-high 17 in a win at Southern Illinois on March 9.  NIU is third in the MAC in stolen bases with 26, as both Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) and Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) are both in the top-10 in the conference with seven stolen bases each.
 
"We have to get more consistent on the offensive side," Kunigonis said. "We need to find a way to string those two or three hits together when we have runners in scoring position. We did that against Chicago State on Tuesday, which was nice. We had the bases loaded in the eighth, got a double and scored five runs in that inning. We made the other team pay for their mistakes. We need to limit our mistakes, and take advantage of our opponents' mistakes when they're presented to us."
 
The Huskie pitching staff enters this weekend third in the MAC in strikeouts with 151. Sophomore Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) is third individually in the conference with a team-leading 35 strikeouts. Lasiewicz was named MAC Pitcher of the Week on March 12 after recording 10 strikeouts in six innings in the March 9^th win at SIU. In his last two starts, both wins, Lasiewicz has struck out 18 batters while allowing four runs on 11 hits in 11 innings.
 
Reliever Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) is second on the team with 19 strikeouts in 16.2 innings. In last weekend's series against Valparaiso, Michaels, Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian), Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.), and Ryan Anderson (Palatine, Ill./McHenry CC) combined for 11 strikeouts in 10 innings, allowing 11 hits and no runs.
 
"Our pitching staff has been our rock," Kunigonis said. "They've kept us in every game. The bullpen has been very good at keeping us in games and we need to continue that trend. I think all these grind games and stuff that may look like it hasn't gone our way is going to pay off when we get into MAC play this Friday. We've played in a lot of one and two-run ballgames. That's going to prepare us for league play, and hopefully we'll get on the other side of those close games."
 
Eastern Michigan comes to DeKalb with a record of 3-16-1. Last weekend, the Eagles dropped all three games of a series at #20 TCU. Sophomore outfielder Jeff Timko leads the Eagles with a .377 batting average, .660 slugging percentage, and three home runs.
 
The series starts with a 3 p.m. game on Friday, followed by a 1 p.m. game Saturday and a 12 p.m. game Sunday.
 
--NIU--