This Week in Huskie Athletics, NIU has six teams in action. Baseball heads back to the road and takes on Northwestern on Tuesday before starting a series with Toledo on Thursday. Softball has their home opener against DePaul on Tuesday before hosting Kent State on Friday and Saturday. Women’s golf travels to Georgia to compete in the Pinetree Intercollegiate at Kennesaw State. Track and field heads to the Texas Relays on Wednesday. Men’s tennis stays home to take on UIC on Saturday while women’s tennis travels to EMU on Friday.

Baseball

Tuesday, March 26: at Northwestern, 3:30 p.m. – BIG+ | Live Stats

Thursday, March 28: at Toledo, 2 p.m. –  ESPN+ |  Live Stats

The Huskies wrap up their season-opening road swing this week at Northwestern Tuesday afternoon and this weekend at Toledo. NIU took the final game of this past weekend’s series at Miami 1-0, getting a stellar pitching effort from Adam Brouwer and Dominic Hann. Brouwer threw seven shutout innings, a season-high, striking out five RedHawks while allowing four hits and two walks. Hann closed the game with three strikeouts over the last two innings. In three MAC starts, Brouwer is 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 18 innings. Through three conference series, the NIU pitching staff leads the MAC in conference ERA at 3.53 and a .213 opponents batting average. At 5-4 in the MAC, the Huskies are fifth in the league just one game back of Toledo for second place. The Rockets took two out of three games against Ball State last weekend.

Softball

Tuesday, March 26: vs DePaul at 2 p.m. (Mental Health Awareness Game) –  Watch |  Live Stats

Friday, March 29: vs Kent State at 3 p.m. (Greek and Club Day)  – Watch | Live Stats

Saturday, March 30: vs Kent State at 1 and 3 p.m. (Pup Club and Kid’s Day) –  Watch | Live Stats

The Huskie softball program looks to snap a five-game losing skid as they have their home opener this week. The Huskies will host in-state opponent, DePaul, in a non-conference battle on Tuesday (March 26) before hosting Kent State for a three-game Mid-American Conference series.

With her next stolen base, Caitlyn Shumaker will become the NIU career stolen bases leader. Ellis Erickson had recorded a hit in the Huskies last five games, with four of the games featuring multi-hit games.

Women’s Golf

Monday-Tuesday at Pinetree Intercollegiate hosted by Kennesaw State –  Scores

The Huskie women’s golf team continues action this season as they compete at the Pinetree Intercollegiate hosted by Kennesaw State in a two-day tournament. The Huskies will see Kennesaw State, Xavier, Cincinnati, Florida Gulf Coast, Delaware, ULM, UTEP, Charleston Southern, and Columbia at the tournament.

In their last outing, Emily Romancew (Pierrefonds, Quebec, Can./ Ecole Secondaire Des Sources) won the NAU Red Rocks Invitational as four members of the Northern Illinois University women’s golf program finished inside the top-20.

Track & Field

Wednesday-Saturday, March 27-30: at Texas Relays (Austin, Texas)

Thursday-Saturday, March 28-30: at Bobcat Invitational (San Marcos, Texas)

Friday-Saturday, March 29-30: at Redbird Challenge (Normal, Ill.)

NIU Track and Field will split its team between three meets this weekend as the Huskies send student-athletes to Texas for the Texas Relays and Bobcat Invitational while also sending a group to compete at Illinois State’s Redbird Challenge in Normal, as NIU begins the outdoor portion of its season.

The Huskies are returning to action for the first time since the MAC Indoor Championships where Arianna Calloway took second in the high jump and Malia Watkins finished second in the 200 meters. Calloway was named co-MAC Freshman Field Performer of the Year.

Calloway and Watkins are two of the four Huskies on the initial qualifying list to compete at the 96th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, one of the top events in the country each season. Watkins, along with Skylynn Blue, are qualified in the 100 meters while Calloway and Kamiya Dendy are qualified in the high jump.

Men’s Tennis

Saturday, March 30: vs UIC, 1 p.m. – Watch

The Huskie men’s tennis program stays home to take on UIC on Saturday.

Last week the Huskies went 2-0 moving to 4-1 in MAC play and 15-3 overall. The Huskies took down Buffalo 5-2 on Friday and Toledo 6-1 on Sunday.

NIU men’s tennis has now won 13 of their last 14 duals and has posted an undefeated home record in 2024.

Cheng En Tsai won both of his singles matches at No.1 singles last weekend and added doubles win in Sunday’s dual. Saul Berdullas is 5-0 in MAC play at singles.

Women’s Tennis

Friday, March 29: at EMU, 12 p.m.

Friday, March 29: at Eastern Michigan (Ypsilanti, Mich.), Noon

WATCH: Eric Burns at the NIU Spring Press Conference (6:25)

After splitting a pair of MAC matches at home last weekend, including a thrilling 4-3 victory over Western Michigan Sunday clinched at No. 6 singles, NIU (12-7, 1-2 MAC) travels to Ypsilanti to take on Eastern Michigan (7-8, 1-2 MAC) Friday at the Chippewa Club.

The Huskies’ Jenna Horne came back from 4-0 down in the decisive third set at No. 6 singles and fought off four match points at 2-5 before winning five consecutive games to give NIU its first MAC win of the season.

Huskie senior Diana Lukyanova won both of her singles matches last weekend to improve to 12-5 on the season and record her 80th and 81st career singles victories to move into second place on the NIU career charts. Lukyanova also passed Anna Widen (1996-2000) for second place on the Huskies’ career chart for combined singles and doubles wins with 139.