The 2017-18 men’s baseball team released its schedule for the upcoming season this past Friday featuring 18 home games at Ralph McKinzie Field.

NIU will play three more home games than they did last season and will feature it’s first game on Feb. 16 at Central Arkansas.

The first home game will be played on March 23 against the Central Michigan Chippewas.

“I’m excited about our home schedule this year,” Head Coach Mike Kunigonis said. “Playing more games at home is always something we try to do and we’ll see some good opponents at the Ralph this year.”

The Huskies will begin the season against the Bears of Central Arkansas on Friday, Feb. 16 in a three-game series.

NIU will kickoff the season with 19 games on the road in non-conference play as well.

The Huskies will look to continue to get better under third year head coach Mike Kunigonis after a 17-38 season last year.

“I’m excited for this talented group of guys we have this year,” Kunigonis said. “It’s a great mix of youth, experience and talent. We’re returning the middle of our lineup along with a lot of weekend starts on the mound.”

NIU got off to a slow start last year, but against notable opponents in Notre Dame, Boston College, Michigan and Oklahoma.

The first home series for the Huskies this year will begin with against Central Michigan on March 23-25.

Other home MAC series opponents will be Western Michigan (April 6-8), Miami (Ohio) (April 20-22) and Toledo (May 4-6).

The Huskies will also have a stretch of six home games in nine days in April starting when they host Milwaukee on April 3, followed by the three-game series against Western Michigan from April 6-8 followed by two mid-week non-conference match-ups against UIC on April 10 and Trinity Christian College on April 11.

NIU will visit Bloomington, IN against the Hoosiers in a three game series set March 16-18 and then finish off the trip in South Bend, IN against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

The MAC Tournament will take place on May 23-27 in Avon, Ohio as the Huskies will look to make the tournament for three consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.

NIU baseball finished 21 games under the 500 mark in 2017 with a 11-13 MAC record finishing in seventh place heading into the MAC Tournament in 2017.