Baseball | March 20

DeKALB, IL – After playing 17 consecutive games on the road to start the 2025 season, the Northern Illinois University baseball team plays its first home games of the year at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park this weekend against the Central Michigan Chippewas.
 
Friday's game has been moved up to a 2 p.m. start. The first 50 fans age 21 and over to the ballpark can receive a voucher for a free 16-ounce Miller or Coors beer. Be sure to follow NIU Athletics and NIU Baseball on social media for any schedule adjustments this weekend. All NIU Baseball home games will be streamed on Huskie All-Access.
 
NIU (7-10, 1-5 MAC) is coming off an 0-3 series at Miami last weekend. Junior Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) became the first Huskie in over 20 years to hit three home runs in a game in the series finale on March 16. He is one of ten Division I players to have at least three home runs in a game this season. Baldwin leads the Mid-American Conference in slugging percentage at .796, is second in home runs with seven and fourth with 22 RBI.
 
The Huskies are third in the MAC with 26 home runs as a team. Junior catcher Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Benedictine) is fourth in the MAC with six home runs and third in RBI with 23. He was named MAC Player of the Week on March 10 after hitting .533 with a 1.267 slugging percentage in NIU's series at Kent State March 7-9. He hit .800 in the Sunday doubleheader of that weekend with three home runs, two doubles, seven runs scored and nine RBI.
 
NIU has also had a MAC Pitcher of the Week this season. Redshirt-Junior Adam Brouwer (Tinley Park, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) earned the honor on March 3 after posting a career-high 13 strikeouts in six innings in a win over SIUE on Feb. 28. He was the first Huskie in six years to be named MAC Pitcher of the Week and the first NIU pitcher to have at least 12 strikeouts in a game in 12 years.
 
Brouwer leads the MAC in strikeouts with 35 in x innings. Two other Huskie pitchers are in the top-five in the conference in strikeouts. Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) is third with 31 strikeouts with Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) fifth with 29 strikeouts. NIU is one of four teams in the country to have three players in the top-five of its respective conference in strikeouts, joining Mount St. Mary's, Missouri State and Bethune-Cookman.
 
Central Michigan (6-15, 2-1 MAC) played its first MAC series of the year last weekend, taking two out of three games at Ohio. The Chippewas swept a doubleheader last Friday by scores of 14-7 and 4-1. CMU has won four of its last five games. Outfielder Cole Prout leads CMU in hitting with a .307 batting average, five home runs and 18 RBI. Junior pitcher Evan Waters is fifth in the MAC with a 3.09 earned run average. NIU took two out three games at Central Michigan last season.
 
Following this weekend's series, NIU heads to Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, March 25 for a 3 p.m. game before hosting UIC on Wednesday, March 26 at 2 p.m.
 
--NIU--