DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team wraps up its current eight-game homestand with a four-game Mid-American Conference series against the Western Michigan Broncos this weekend at Ralph McKinzie Field.
 
The two teams open the series with a 2 p.m. game on Friday. On Saturday, the Huskies and Broncos will play a seven-inning doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. Sunday's series finale will have a 12 p.m. first pitch.
 
Prior to Saturday's doubleheader, NIU Baseball will honor former Huskie Eric Sansouci who passed away in March of 2020 after battling pancreatic cancer. Sansouci was a member of the NIU baseball team from 2004-05 after transferring from Forest Park Community College. The St. Louis, Mo. native was selected to the 2004 MAC All-Tournament Team and led the nation in 2005 with 17 outfield assists. He graduated from NIU with a bachelor's degree in Economics with an emphasis in Mathematics. Following his time in DeKalb, Eric played professionally for the Gateway Grizzlies in the Frontier League. He was also a founding member and the President & Managing Director of the EXPRESS Baseball Club, in the Northern Illinois area.
 
NIU (10-28, 9-15 MAC) won its second conference series of the year last weekend, taking three out of four games against the Akron Zips. The Huskies won the opener on April 30 7-6 on a Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) walk-off double that capped a 3-for-5 day at the plate. He also hit his fourth home run of the season in that win. Dunham was 7-for-12 hitting in the series with four RBI, slugging .917. He is tied for the MAC lead in doubles this season with 14 and is sixth in slugging percentage at .531. The senior catcher is currently on a seven-game hitting streak.
 
Redshirt-Junior Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) had another stellar series, hitting .438 with a triple, a home run and seven RBI. Smith is among the top-10 in the MAC in batting average, hits, and home runs so far this season. He leads NIU with a .345 batting average.
 
The Huskies got a pair of stellar pitching performances to sweep the doubleheader last Saturday. Junior Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) allowed one unearned run on three hits in a 3-1 win, striking out three batters in the complete game victory. Ryan Anderson (Palatine, Ill./McHenry C.C.) allowed two runs in six innings in the nightcap, a game NIU won 11-2. It was the fifth time this season the Huskies scored double-digit runs.
 
Western Michigan (15-19, 14-10 MAC) enters the weekend in third place in the MAC standings after going 2-2 in a high-scoring series at Toledo. The Broncos scored 50 runs in the four games while giving up 46. Senior first baseman Ethan Hajdukovic was named the MAC Player of the Week on Monday after hitting .471 with four home runs and 13 RBI against the Rockets. The Broncos are second in the conference in both team batting average (.278) and runs scored (250).
 
Due to COVID restrictions, attendance at Ralph McKinzie Field at this time is limited to 165 fans. Entrance will be allowed on a first to come general admission process through the North gate on the first base side of the field. The North gate will open 30 minutes prior to first pitch each day. NIU Athletics reserves the right to reserve some attendee spots for parents of NIU Baseball student-athletes if necessary on gameday. Masks must be worn while inside Ralph McKinzie Field and self-monitored general admission social distancing will be required.
 
Each game this weekend will be shown on NIUTube on NIUHuskies.com, the Huskie all-access channel. Subscriptions are available for purchase on a daily ($6.95), monthly ($10.95) or annual basis and provides access to all home NIU Athletics events streamed on the website for the purchase period. Live stats of each game will also be available on NIUHuskies.com.
 
--NIU--