The NIU men’s golf team heads to the Mid-American Conference Championship this weekend, highlighting this week in Huskie Athletics. The NIU baseball and softball team each have busy weeks that include multiple midweek games and the Huskie track and field team will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Relays.
Men’s Golf
Sunday-Tuesday, April 30-May 2: MAC Championship (Canebrake Club, Athens, Ala.) – Live Scoring | ESPN+ Day 3
NIU Men’s Golf heads to Athens, Ala. for the MAC Championship at Canebrake Club. The Huskies posted their third third-place finish of the spring last weekend at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate. Sophomore Ben Sluzas won the individual event by two strokes, finishing at two-under par with a 54-hole score of 211. Sluzas, the reigning MAC Men’s Golfer of the Week, was the only player to finish under par and led the tournament with 13 birdies. Tommy Dunsire had his fourth top-10 finish of the season, taking sixth place at two-over par. The Huskies finished tied for third at last season’s MAC Championship at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville. A full preview will be available on NIUHuskies.com later this week.
Baseball
Tuesday, April 25: vs. UIC, 3 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats
Wednesday, April 26: at Illinois State, 5 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats
Friday, April 28: vs. Akron, 3 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats
Saturday, April 29: vs. Akron, 1 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats
Sunday, April 30: vs. Akron, 12 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats
NIU Baseball opens a stretch of seven of its next nine games at home against UIC Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. The Flames won the first meeting of the year 6-3 on April 4 in Chicago. Malik Peters was 2-for-3 in that game with two RBI. Over the five games last week Peters hit .412 with two home runs and six RBI. The Huskies’ offense has scored at least five runs in a game seven times in the last nine games. NIU hosts Akron this weekend after going to Illinois State on Wednesday. The Huskies are 5-3 against the Zips since 2021. A full preview of this weekend’s series will be available on NIUHuskies.com later this week.
Softball
Tuesday, April 25: vs. Western Michigan, 3 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats
Wednesday, April 26: vs. Western Michigan, 1 and 3 p.m. – Live Video Game 1 | Live Video Game 2 | Live Stats
Saturday, April 29: at Buffalo, 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. – Live Stats
Sunday, April 30: at Buffalo, 11 a.m. – Live Stats
The Huskies return to the friendly confines of Mary M. Bell field for a three-game MAC series against Western Michigan this Tuesday and Wednesday. NIU is coming off a road series loss to Toledo this past weekend in which the Huskies took one-of-three games against the Rockets. NIU started the series Saturday with a doubleheader split, winning the opener 4-1, but lost 12-6 in the DH closer. On Sunday, extra innings were needed to decide a winner in a closely contested, back-and-forth affair. NIU fell 6-5 after Toledo’s walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Two single season records were broken in Saturday’s doubleheader: Caitlyn Shumaker nabbed her 27th steal of the season, marking a new single season for an individual in program history. Likewise, the squad stole its 104th bag to smash the team’s single season stolen base record which was previously set by the 2019 team. The speedy Huskies continue to lead the league and are No. 7 in the nation in swipes per game with 2.62.
Track and Field
Thursday-Saturday, April 27-29: at Drake Relays – Live Video | Live Results
The Huskie track and field team heads to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the 113th Drake Relays this weekend. NIU will begin competition at the meet beginning on Thursday (April 27).
This past weekend, NIU traveled to the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas, where the quartet of Kimone Hines, Skylynn Blue, Scout Regular and Suerethia Henderson rans the best time in the MAC this spring in the 4×100-meter relay (45.22). Skylynn Blue posted the second-fastest time in the MAC in the 200 meters (23.93), Kadeja Campbell ran the league’s second-fastest time in the 400 (54.84) and Diamond Riley posted the second-best mark in the conference in the triple jump (12.75m).
Last season at Drake, Skylynn Blue finished seventh in the 200 meters and the Huskies also took seventh in the 4×400-meter relay. Along with streaming coverage from USAFT.tv, portions of Saturday afternoon’s schedule at the Drake Relays will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.