Another trip to Ohio left the NIU baseball team with the same results as last weekend, as the Huskies were swept by Akron.

NIU lost to Akron 14-10, 14-11 and 10-7 in the Friday, Saturday and Sunday games, respectively.

The Huskies (11-21 overall, 4-7 MAC) are in the midst of a seven-game slide. Last weekend, NIU dropped three games to Kent State. NIU then picked up another loss in a mid-week game against Northwestern, before being swept by Akron (9-23, 6-6).

With a 7-3 lead in the third on Sunday, NIU was hoping to leave Ohio without at least one win.

The Zips, however, struck back scoring six runs in the third frame. Five of those runs came with two outs in the inning.

“We gave away too many free passes and fell behind too many hitters,” said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. “We came out and scored seven in the first two innings and then all of a sudden we’re behind. We can’t give away that many free passes to a team like this. It’s pretty disappointing.”

NIU’s offense has continued to produce during the losing streak, as the Huskies have scored at least one run in the first inning in three of the last four games. In NIU’s last three games, the team has also totaled 10 or more hits.

The weakness for the Huskies this season has been their young pitching. In the weekend series, NIU allowed 11 walks. Six of the free passes came in the final game against the Zips.

NIU’s starters also struggled this weekend against Akron. The Huskies staff gave up 28 earned runs in just 8.1 innings of work.