Last spring, NIU went to Bowling Green only to be swept by the Falcons in three games.

At the end of the season, the Huskies realized if they had beat the Falcons in just one of those games, they would have tied for the best record in the MAC.

With that on its mind, NIU will host Bowling Green for three games this weekend. The first will be today at 3:05 p.m. at Ralph McKinzie Field. The Huskies will then finish out the series with 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday.

Head coach Ed Mathey feels the losses to Bowling Green (9-11 overall, 1-2 MAC) from last season will provide his team with a sense of urgency this weekend.

“It’s the here and now,” Mathey said. “If you have a bad inning, you can lose a game. We can’t have a bad weekend.”

NIU (9-13, 3-0) will look to its starting pitching again this weekend in order to improve its perfect conference record. The Huskies got strong performances from two freshmen, Tom Barry and Kyle Glancy, during a mid-week doubleheader against Bradley.

This weekend, NIU will send out left-hander Chuck Lukanen on Friday, right-hander Nick Badgley on Saturday and lefty Dave Reynolds will finish the series on Sunday.

Lukanen, a transfer who has played with Minnesota and North Iowa Area Community College before coming to NIU, has become the anchor of the Huskie staff. The pitcher leads NIU with a 3.41 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 29 innings pitched.

While the game will start with NIU’s pitching, Mathey said he isn’t looking for perfection.

“I think it’s going to start with the guys on the mound,” the coach said. “They just have to give our defense a chance. If our offense is able to keep swinging the bat, we’ll be in a good position.”

The Huskie offense has had multiple stars the past few weeks, but junior Jordin Hood has been leading the pack. The third baseman leads NIU with a .432 average, 19 runs, 10 doubles and 22 RBI.

Both Hood and Reynolds are also in the middle of a career-high 17-game hitting streak.

Huskie batters might have some difficulty against at least one Falcon pitcher. On Friday, NIU will face Brennan Smith. The pitcher leads the Bowling Green staff with a 2.83 ERA over 28.2 innings. Smith has also recorded 28 strike-outs during his time on the mound.

Things open up a bit more after that as the Huskies will face a pair of south paws in Matt Malewitz and Brian Hangbers. Malewitz has an ERA of 3.90 in 27.2 innings of work while Hangbers has only pitched 8.1 innings this season with an ERA of 3.24.