Baseball | May 13

DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University baseball team heads to Kalamazoo, Mich. for the final regular season series of the year, taking on the Western Michigan Broncos Thursday through Saturday.

NIU (31-14, 21-9 MAC) reached 30 wins for the first time since 2011 last Friday with its 5-2 win over Ball State. This is the most conference wins the Huskies have had in program history. At 21-9, NIU is one game back of Miami and Kent State at 22-8 for the Mid-American Conference regular season championship. The Huskies enter the final week of the regular season in third place, tied for its best finish in MAC history. They also hold the tiebreaker over Miami and Kent State, having swept Miami March 20-22 and winning two out of three games over Kent State April 10-12.

The Huskies are 13-4 since April 7 and have won eight consecutive weekend series. Freshman outfielder Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) is hitting .484 over this current stretch, reaching base at a .600 clip. Wawro is currently 10th in the nation in on-base percentage at .521 and 21st in batting average at .389.

Sophomore shortstop Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) has reached base safely in 29 consecutive games dating back to March 20th. Sandee is hitting .341 in conference play with 26 walks and 29 hits. He has had a hit in 10 of the last 11 games.

Western Michigan (23-23, 17-13 MAC) enters the final regular season series in fifth place in the MAC, three games behind Toledo for fourth. The Broncos lost two out of three games at Bowling Green last weekend, winning 7-1 on Saturday to even the series before dropping the finale 7-5. Junior infielder Tanner Mally leads the nation with a .465 batting average and a .573 on-base percentage. Relief Pitcher Turner Doran leads the MAC with nine saves.

NIU and Western Michigan both lead the MAC in fielding percentage at .978. The Huskies did not have an error in each of their six straight wins before Sunday's loss. NIU last won a three-game series against Western Michigan in 2016, winning two out of three games in Kalamazoo that season. In 2021 and 2022 the Huskies and Broncos split a pair of four-game series.

Following this week's series, NIU heads to Avon, Ohio for the first time since 2019 for the MAC Baseball Championship which starts on Wednesday, May 20.

—NIU—