Baseball | April 18

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team opens a four-game homestand at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park this weekend when it hosts the Kent State Golden Flashes in a three-game Mid-American Conference series.
 
Friday's game is at 3 p.m. with Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m. On Friday, fans are encouraged to "Fill The Berm" on the third-base side of the field. Saturday is Bark At The Park and Pro Sports Day. Sunday is Family Day and the Victor E. Huskie Egg Hunt postgame.  For more information on NIU Baseball promotions, log on to the NIU Baseball promotions page. Admission to all NIU Baseball games is free.
 
NIU (11-24, 6-9 MAC) enters the weekend in eighth place in the MAC, but just two games back of both Kent State and Eastern Michigan who are tied for fifth at 8-7. The Huskies stepped out of league play last weekend to take on Illinois, the first-place team in the Big Ten. NIU scored 21 runs in the three games with 11 coming in the series finale last Sunday.
 
Senior catcher Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) had a massive week last week against Illinois and Eastern Illinois. Summerhill hit six home runs in four games last week to tie the NIU single-season home run record of 15 set in 2003 by Mike Santoro. He slugged over 1.500 for the week and had 13 RBI against Eastern Illinois and Illinois.
 
Summerhill leads the MAC in home runs and is tied for the MAC lead in RBI with 41. He is tied for 11^th in the country in home runs. The senior backstop is quickly racing up the NIU career home run chart. With his 15 home runs this season, Summerhill has 26 in his two seasons as a Huskie and is third all-time at NIU with 36 career home runs.
 
Third Baseman Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) enters the series against Kent State on an eight-game hitting streak. In those eight games Nelson is hitting .448 with 13 hits. He has had multiple hits in five of the last eight games. Nelson is second on the team in batting average at .330.
 
Kent State (17-17, 8-7 MAC) enters the weekend on the heels of a 10-3 win at Penn State on Tuesday. The Golden Flashes won one out of three games at Toledo last week. The Kent State pitching staff leads the MAC in ERA and is fourth in strikeouts. Junior Eric Chalus leads the Golden Flashes with four wins on the mound and 45 strikeouts. At the plate, senior Tim Orr has a team-high .360 batting average. Josh Johnson is tied for the MAC lead in stolen bases with 16.
 
Following this weekend's series, the Huskies host Valparaiso on Tuesday, April 23 at 3 p.m.
 
--NIU--