NIU’s mounders will get a big taste of collegiate baseball this weekend—five home games in a 48-hour span.

Rockford College invades Huskie Diamond Friday at 3 p.m., while Eastern Illinois heads to DeKalb for four games—two on Saturday (starting at 1 p.m.) and two on Sunday (noon).

The Rockford match-up marks the start of the second half of the season for NIU. So far, coach Joe “Spanky” McFarland and Co. have only mustered up a 1-19 ledger, but the first-year skipper is a little more optimistic as the latter half commences.

“Obviously, I would’ve liked to have won a few more ballgames,” McFarland said. “But, that’s not the issue. The key is that the guys just play hard and keep improving on an individual basis.”

One encouraging aspect for McFarland is that NIU plays more than half of the remainder of the schedule in DeKalb.

“The number of home games will definitely help us,” McFarland said. “It’s still going to be tough to win, but I think we ought to win a few more.”

Affiliated with Division III, Rockford (4-7) poses the first obstacle. Head coach Bill Langston views the game as a challenge, but empathizes with McFarland’s situation.

“I admire (Spanky) for the opportunity to do something like that,” Langston said. “It’s not going to happen today or tomorrow, it’s going to take a few years.”

“We just view it as a fun time to play a Division I school and to take on a tough challenge.”

The twin bills with Eastern will be a measuring stick towards the future for McFarland. EIU (14-24) is not only an intrastate rival, but part of the Mid-Continent.