After 17 road games, the NIU baseball team will finally play on its home field.

The Huskies will have their home opener today against Bradley in a doubleheader at 1 p.m.

The Huskies (7-10, 3-0 MAC) have only been on Ralph McKinzie Field once since fall practice; and that was to take the tarp off and then put it back on.

“It will definitely be good to get back into the first-base dugout and have last at-bats,” NIU head coach Ed Mathey said.

Cold-weather schools face tough obstacles in the first few weeks of the season. These schools are sometimes unable to hold traditional practice.

“It’s not easy. One of the things that coaches in any sport look to do is to try to duplicate game conditions as much as you can,” Mathey said. “We try to be creative in the practices that we have. It does take some imagination from our players to get to understand that.”

Junior Brandon Copp will take the mound for the Huskies in Game 1. Copp has struggled so far this season, going 1-2 with a 10.47 ERA in four appearances (three starts). Mathey is undecided on the Game 2 starter.

Bradley (8-9, 2-1 Missouri Valley), is coming off a series victory over Evansville. This will also be the first cold-weather series for the Braves. Bradley features one of the Missouri Valley’s best players in shortstop Dan Brewer. He is one of the Valley’s top prospects for the 2008 MLB draft.

“I expect a good contest. The MVC is a very good league,” Mathey said. “Our pitchers need to get ahead in the count and they need to throw strikes. Our hitters need to work on improving and cutting down on the strikeouts.”