Baseball | February 17

DeKALB, IL - With the start of a new season comes a new look for the Northern Illinois University baseball team when it takes the diamond at Sacramento State Friday afternoon. A total of 15 newcomers join a seasoned group of veterans for the 2022 season.
 
"When you have 13 seniors that means you need to bring in 13 new players, and we chose to do so with a majority of junior college guys," said head coach Mike Kunigonis, in his eighth year at the helm of NIU Baseball. "Even though we have some new faces, they bring a veteran presence. A lot of them are coming from successful programs and know what it takes to win."
 
Incoming pitchers Reagan Klawiter (Verona, Wis./Madison College) and Jack McNeil (Madison, Wis./Madison College) come to NIU after leading Madison College to the NJCAA Division II World Series in 2021 with Klawiter earning NJCAA All-America honors. Infielder Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence-Darling Tech) played in the NJCAA Division I World Series at Florence-Darling Technical College.
 
Klawiter and McNeil join an NIU pitching staff that struck out 379 batters in 417.1 innings in 2021. Seniors Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) and Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.), junior Brandon McPherson (Chicago, Ill./Wabash Valley College) and sophomore Connor Langreder (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) each had at least 50 strikeouts for the Huskies last season.
 
"We're excited for our arms," Kunigonis said. "Reagan Klawiter will start on Friday. Michael Lasiewicz and Kyle Seebach will pitch on Saturday and another newcomer, Caleb Pittman (Suffolk, Va./Bryant & Stratton College), will go on Sunday. We like where we're at and that puts Erik Hedmark (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown) and Connor Langreder, who have been fantastic here, as go-to guys out of the pen. They give us that veteran presence of being able to take the ball and turn it over to guys that we know have gotten us out of big situations in the past."
 
NIU will have an almost whole new look on the field in 2022. Seniors Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) and Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central), and sophomore Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) are the only three returning Huskies to have started at least 30 games a year ago. Erato is NIU's top returning hitter after posting a team-high .319 batting average last season and leading the Huskies with 10 stolen bases.
 
"We are going to look very young positionally. Matt Barnes is a senior and will start in centerfield and outside of that, Paddy McKermitt is in the conversation in the middle of the infield. Paxton Kennedy (Mendota, Ill./Illinois Valley C.C.) will be playing first base and he's been fantastic in the preseason."
 
"We have had an extremely competitive year to date with our infield. There are six guys that could start for us at three positions. What we need to figure out is how to get those guys in the lineup. Eric Erato is a versatile player and will play some in the outfield, which will give Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) an opportunity at third base who's had a great year so far in the intrasquad. You add in Andre Demetral, Jack Blazevich (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South), Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College), and Paddy that can all play in the middle infield it's competitive for playing time."
 
NIU will also have a new catcher behind the plate this season after the graduation of Jake Dunham. Freshman Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere), sophomore Jonathan Latham (Mahomet, Ill./Danville Area C.C.) and junior Scott Combs (Northville, Mich./Michigan State) will all vie for playing time to start the year.
 
The non-conference schedule will prove to be a test for NIU, starting with Sacramento State this weekend. The Hornets won 35 games in 2021 and finished third in the Western Athletic Conference. Murray State was second in the Ohio Valley Conference last season and also won over 30 games. NIU will also head to Notre Dame for a mid-week game in late March. The Fighting Irish won the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal division and reached the NCAA Super Regionals in 2021.
 
"We have a challenging non-conference schedule. Sacramento State is a traditional 30-game winner and plays in a really tough Western Athletic Conference. Murray State is always one of the top mid-major teams offensively and Lipscomb is another southern team that is another 30-game winner. We also go to Notre Dame and Purdue which will be great tests for us. It's also big that we get the conference tournament back this season. Having that playoff back means we can be really good and finish second, third or fourth and still have an opportunity to win the league. I think that's a big thing psychologically for everybody in the MAC, not just us."
 
NIU's game Friday is at 4 p.m. CT. The Huskies and Sacramento State will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. CT with Sunday's series finale set for a 2 p.m. CT first pitch. The Huskies open the home portion of the season March 25-27 with a Mid-American Conference series against Kent State.
 
--NIU--