Baseball | January 9

DeKALB, IL – Northern Illinois University head baseball coach Ryan Copeland announced the 2026 NIU Baseball schedule on Friday. The Huskies will play 18 home games at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park, starting with a Mid-American Conference series against Miami March 20-22.
 
NIU opens its season with a three-game series at North Carolina A&T Feb. 13-15. It will be the first meeting between the Huskies and Aggies in 30 years. The Huskies will then take on East Carolina for the first time in program history on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The Pirates were 35-27 a year ago and reached the NCAA Regionals. NIU will play in the One Spartanburg Inc. Baseball Classic Feb. 20-22, taking on USC Upstate, Presbyterian and Wofford. USC Upstate won the Big South regular season and tournament championships in 2025 to reach the NCAA Regionals. It will be the first time the Huskies face all three programs.
 
The Huskies close February against another first-time opponent, heading down to Lindenwood for a four-game series against the Lions Feb. 27-March 1. MAC play begins March 6-8 with NIU heading to Ohio followed by a three-game set at Toledo March 13-15. The Huskies took two out of three games against the Bobcats last season in DeKalb.
 
NIU opens it's home slate with a series against Miami March 20-22, followed by a home series against Bowling Green the next weekend. The Huskies open April at new conference member UMass April 1-3. NIU has faced the Minutemen just once in program history back in 2002. NIU returns home for a four-game homestand, starting with a game against Eastern Illinois on April 7 before a weekend series with Kent State. The Huskies and Panthers split two midweek games last year with the road team winning each game.
 
Five straight road games follow the homestand with stops at Illinois State on April 14th, Akron April 17-19, and at UIC on April 21st. NIU opens another four game homestand April 24^th with the first of three games against Eastern Michigan. The Huskies won last season's series at Eastern Michigan, taking two out of three games from the Eagles. NIU then welcomes Valparaiso to DeKalb on April 28^th.
 
The Huskies head to Central Michigan the first weekend of May at Central Michigan, followed by a home series against Ball State May 8-10. NIU plays its final home game of the regular season on Tuesday, May 12 against Milwaukee before heading to Kalamazoo, Mich. to face the reigning MAC champions Western Michigan May 14-16. The MAC Tournament will held at ForeFront Field in Avon, Ohio May 20-24.
 
NIU was 21-33 in 2024 with a 9-21 MAC record. The Huskies return three of their top five hitters from a season ago, including All-MAC Second Team selection Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) who was second on the team with a .322 batting average, 15 home runs and 57 RBI.
 
--NIU--