Baseball | April 23
DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team opens a four-game homestand this weekend with a three-game set against the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.
Friday's game is set for 3 p.m., with first pitch Saturday at 2 p.m. Saturday is also Alumni Day as NIU welcomes its baseball alumni back to the ballpark. Due to the Football Spring Showcase on Saturday, fans are encouraged to park in lots PS and P for Saturday's game. Sunday's 1 p.m. game is Salute To Service with a vehicle display from the DeKalb Fire Department, NIU Police Department and the Army National Guard. The NIU ROTC will have a color guard for Sunday's national anthem.
On Friday and Saturday, NIU Athletics will hold a Spring Showcase Enter to Win raffle for two tickets to this summer's Country Thunder festival. Fans can enter at Friday and Saturday's baseball games, as well as at the Fan Zone at Saturday's Spring Showcase. The winner will be announced at Saturday's baseball game and entrants must be present to redeem.
NIU (23-12, 14-7 MAC) enter the weekend in a three-way tie for second place in the Mid-American Conference with Miami and Western Michigan. All three teams are just one game back of first place Kent State with four weekends to go in the regular season. The Huskies have won each of their last five series after taking two out of three games at Akron last weekend.
On Tuesday night, the Huskies rallied from a three-run deficit to win at UIC 9-8 on Tuesday night. NIU scored four runs in the top of the eighth, capped by
Vinny Spotofora's (Shorewood, Ill./Lake Land College) two-run home run, to take the lead.
Matt Tarr (North Aurora, Ill./Purdue) then earned his fourth save of the year in the top of the ninth with a rare four-strikeout inning.
Spotofora is 8-for-17 at the plate over his last four games with three straight games of multiple hits. He was 2-for-4 with four runs batted in Tuesday night against UIC. Spotofora had his second three-hit game of the season on April 19 at Akron.
Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) moved into the MAC lead in home runs on April 18 with his second two home run game of the year in an 8-6 win at Akron. Robertson has 13 home runs this season, seven of which have come in the sixth inning or later. He is also fourth in the league in RBI with 43.
Eastern Michigan (12-26, 6-15 MAC) enters the weekend after an 11-10, 10-inning win at Oakland on Wednesday. Ty Stecko was 3-for-4 in the game with a home run and the game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10
th inning. Last weekend the Eagles took one out of three games at home against Western Michigan. Senior infielder Devan Zirwas is second in the MAC in home runs with 12.
Following this weekend's series NIU hosts Valparaiso on Tuesday, April 28 at 3 p.m.
--NIU--
