NIU baseball coach Ed Mathey likes to see his offense strike early and often. But even he has been surprised by his team’s recent run explosion, staking pitchers to a large early lead.

Over the past three games, NIU has scored 21 runs in the first three innings, including back-to-back games with seven runs in the opening frame. They may need every one of those runs to keep pace this weekend against a high-powered Kent State lineup.

The Huskies (12-14 overall, 4-2 MAC) host Kent State for a three-game set starting at 3 p.m. at Ralph McKinzie Field. Saturday and Sunday’s games are scheduled for 1 p.m.

“That’s a nice thing to have,” Mathey said about the recent trend in offensive production. “But to expect that is a little unrealistic. If you look at those seven-run innings, we got some help from our opponents. So if they want to continue that, we’ll take it.”

The Golden Flashes (14-10, 4-2) are no strangers to high-scoring games, either. In winning six of its last seven games, KSU’s offense has scored at least 13 runs on five separate occasions.

With a .310 team batting average, KSU’s offense is based largely on the long ball. The Golden Flashes have hit a league-high 26 home runs. This power surge is headed by the senior duo of Kurt Eichorn and Drew Saylor. The two have combined for 14 home runs and are tops in the MAC with 56 total RBIs.

Meanwhile, the Huskies are hitting .296 as a team but have only 13 home runs. However, the Huskies’ offensive strategy differs from their competition to play to their strengths, said NIU junior first baseman Scott Simon.

“We’re not going to be a team that tries to hit home runs all the time,” said Simon, who is second in the MAC with a .390 batting average. “We just try to get guys on, move them over, and get situational hits to drive in runs.”

If the starters do run into trouble, the NIU bullpen has been picking up the slack. In a five-game span from March 28 through April 2, relief pitchers have an ERA of 0.77. The bullpen also has a 1.84 ERA in MAC play for the season.