After winning four consecutive weekend series over teams from the MAC East, the NIU baseball team begins the journey through its own division – the MAC West.

The Huskies play game one of a three game series today at 2 p.m. in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. against the second place Chippewas of Central Michigan.

CMU (22-13, 10-2) came into the season as the favorites to win the West, while the Huskies, who are only one game behind the Chippewas, were predicted to finish dead last.

“The MAC West has been pretty competitive the past few years,” coach Ed Mathey said. “This will be a true barometer of who and what we are this year.”

NIU (20-13, 9-3) comes into this series off back-to-back losses to St. Xavier and Iowa, only the second time this year the Huskies have had a losing streak. On the other hand, CMU is on a roll as it has won 14 of its past 17 games.

Offensively, the Chippewas lead the MAC in team batting average and runs per game behind the strength of outfielder Tyler Stovall. Stovall has a MAC-best .439 batting average and .510 on-base percentage, not to mention he leads the conference in hits.

After facing the best pitcher in the East division last Friday, the Huskies will likely see Josh Collmenter today, arguably the best pitcher in the West.