Tom Barry
Northern Illinois baseball will play its final road game of the season Tuesday afternoon, May 15, when it heads to UW-Milwaukee for a midweek clash. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. at Henry Aaron Field.
It will be NIU and UWM’s third meeting of the season with the series split 1-1 in 2012.
Northern Illinois played its final Mid-American Conference road series of the year last weekend when it took on Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The Huskies were locked up in a slugfest Friday, outhitting the Broncos 16-14 in the game, including 4-for-5 performances from Alex Klonowski, Troy White and Jeff Zimmerman, but dropped the contest 13-9.
Saturday’s contest came down to the wire as the Huskies rallied back from 5-1 in the top of the ninth to a 5-4 score and nearly tied the game but WMU right fielder Jack Scanlan threw Huskie Connor Schomig out at home plate to seal the Broncos victory. Western Michigan completed the sweep Sunday with a 6-1 victory.
Klonowski finished the weekend in Kalamazoo 6-for-11 with five RBI and two runs scored. In his last two weekends against MAC opponents, the sophomore from Kearney, Mo. has been the Huskies most-consistent batter, going 14-for-31 (.451) at the plate.
Northern Illinois will call on senior Tom Barry against the Panthers for his ninth start of the season on the mound. Barry appeared in relief Sunday at Western Michigan, hurling 11 pitches in 0.2 innings of work against the Broncos. He did not surrender a hit in his appearances but had an intentional walk to his credit. The Orland Park, Ill. native sports a 6.61 ERA this season.
UWM is one game under .500 currently with a 23-24 register and are sitting in third place in the Horizon League at 15-11, highlighted by a sweep over Butler last weekend.
Since defeating NIU April 24 in DeKalb, 13-2, the Panthers are 6-4, including six-consecutive wins and five on the road. The lone home triumph was a 6-4 win at Miller Park May 9 against Northwestern. Freshman Joshua Uhen will make the fourth start of his career for the Panthers tomorrow and has not earned a decision this season in his five appearances on the bump.
Following the midweek tilt, the Huskies will host its final series of 2012 when it hosts Ball State from Thursday, May 17, through Saturday, May 19. On Saturday, the Huskies will hold Senior Day and honor the eight seniors for the services and contributions to the program.
For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
