Coming off winning three of its last four games, NIU baseball will host MAC opponent Ohio for a weekend-series starting Friday.

The Huskies (8-20, 2-4 MAC) are looking to win their second MAC series in-a-row after taking two of three from Akron last weekend.

“We want to stay hot,” said NIU coach Ed Mathey. “We won three of our last four ball games and we want to keep that going. If our defense stays solid, our hitters are starting to heat up, and our pitchers are starting to come around, I like our chances.”

The Bobcats (13-15, 3-3 MAC) are looking to bounce back after losing their previous game to Cincinnati.

Ohio has a good mix of right handed and left handed hitters, but its most dangerous bat is Jensen Painter who leads the team in home runs with 11 and 29 RBIs.

“They have a couple of new guys that we have not seen yet,” Mathey said. “And they are putting up some pretty big numbers. One of them already has 11 home runs, so we are going to try to keep ourselves in a position where he’s not going to be the one to hurt us.”

To try and slow down the Bobcats, the Huskies will start Taylor Nawrocki Friday, Jake Hermsen Saturday, and Tony Manville Sunday to close out the series.

NIU will look to continue its strong hitting and to work Ohio’s starting pitchers to get them out of the game.

“Their top three pitchers have done a nice job for them,” Mathey said. “So our job, as an offensive unit, is going to be to make those guys work, not go down on easy outs early in the count. We want to try to get those guys pitch counts up so that we can get into their bullpen early.”

The Huskies are looking to accomplish their goal and win their second series in-a-row.

“That’s always our goal,” Mathey said. “I mean, you want to win every game, but the key for us to go out and win the series.”