DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team announced on Thursday schedule changes to its series against the Kent State Golden Flashes this weekend.
Due to field conditions at Ralph McKinzie Field, NIU and Kent State will play at Northwestern's Rocky and Berenice Miller Park in Evanston on Friday and Saturday. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, starting with a seven-inning game at 12 p.m. followed by a nine-inning game. Saturday's game will have a 2 p.m. first pitch. Sunday's game will be played at Ralph McKinzie Field with a 12 p.m. first pitch.
NIU (3-13, 3-3 MAC) split its four-game series at Akron last weekend to move to 3-3 in the Mid-American Conference. The Huskies' bats have come alive to start league play, scoring 31 runs in six games. NIU tied a season-high with nine runs in a 9-4 win at Ohio on March 11, as well as in the series opener at Akron on March 18 with a 9-5 victory. Sophomore outfielder
Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) leads the Huskies with 12 runs batted in this season, hitting .290.
Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) is leading the team in both slugging percentage (.458) and is second in on-base percentage (.426).
Senior
Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) threw a career-high eight innings in his last start at Akron last Friday, earning the win. He allowed three earned runs on 10 hits, striking out five Zips with no walks. Seebach has thrown a team-high 29.1 innings in five starts this season, with at least four strikeouts in each appearance.
Kent State (6-9, 2-4 MAC) is 2-4 in league play after dropping three of four games at Ohio last weekend. The Golden Flashes lead the MAC with a .295 team batting average. Junior catcher Justin Miknis is third in the MAC in hitting with a batting average of .409.
Following the weekend series with Kent State, NIU goes on the road on Tuesday, March 29 to face #12 Notre Dame at 4 p.m. CT before hosting Miami next weekend at Ralph McKinzie Field.
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