Baseball continued to struggle over spring break, moving to 4-16 on the year after a week where it went 3-6.

The Huskies now have three losing streaks of at least four games this season and two of at least five games. Their slow start comes after a season where they went 22-33. The team hasn’t finished with a winning record since it went 30-27 in the 2010-11 season.

NIU started the week with a four-game stand in Nashville, Tenn. The first three games came in a series against Belmont University. The Huskies won the first game in a 4-1 showing but went on to lose the last two 5-4 and 15-13. They finished their Nashville trip with a contest against No. 2 Vanderbilt University. They were able to out-hit the Commodores but fell 9-2.

The Huskies’ last out-of-state game of the week featured a battle with Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. The game turned out to be one of the team’s worst losses this season — the Huskies fell to Austin Peay 14-1, their third time losing by at least 13 runs in a game this year.

NIU finished the weekend in Carbondale, starting on Friday against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was the first of two matchups between the two teams for the weekend and the Illini won the first game 5-3. The defeat gave the Huskies their fifth straight loss.

They redeemed themselves with an extra-inning, 1-0 victory over Southern Illinois University later in the evening. The team put together its first winning streak of the season Saturday, beating Illinois 9-3 for its second consecutive win. It was the first time the Huskies won back-to-back games in nearly a year.

The final game of the weekend for the Huskies came against Southern Illinois — SIU avenged its previous loss to NIU, beating the Huskies 5-2 to break their short winning streak.

NIU will prepare to test its 3-11 road record again this week as it begins conference play — the Huskies will play a three-game series against Ohio University. First pitch will start at 5 p.m. Friday in Athens, Ohio.