As the fall semester kicks into high gear, many of the students at NIU are prompted to turn their attention to football. But for head baseball coach Joe “Spanky” McFarland, it’s back to business as usual.

McFarland, along with assistant coach Pete Tsotsos, spent the better part of summer getting things in line for the upcoming fall season, which begins in early September. The two coaches were busy recruiting new players as well as overseeing the renovations being made on Huskie Baseball Diamond.

NIU was able to attract 15 new players, some transfers and some freshmen, to add to the 24 returning players from last season’s squad. McFarland is optimistic about this season, especially after attracting the type of players that will be new to NIU this season.

“I think it (recruiting) went well,” said the second year coach. “I say ‘I think’ because we haven’t really seen them on our field yet.‘”

The team’s fall agenda consists of a month straight of intrasquad games that McFarland hopes will prepare the Huskies for the real thing come spring. “I feel we’re a better team this year but we’ll also be dealing with a better schedule.”

McFarland is referring to a schedule that will include the Mid-Continent Conference members as well as a few renowned non-conference foes. One tentative toughie on the schedule is at Wichita State University, the runner-up in the 1991 College World Series.

Despite the difficulty of the schedule, McFarland is confident in his team’s ability.

“I’m not intimidated by the so-called bigger schools. It’s all mental and it just needs to be instilled in the players’ minds. If you take one of my guys and put him in a (University of) Miami uniform, there wouldn’t be a difference.”

Fall ball gets underway with walk-on tryouts starting Monday, Sept. 9th.

I’m not intimidated by the so-called bigger schools. … If you take one of my guys and put him in a (University of) Miami uniform, there wouldn’t be a difference.”