It’s been a long time coming for the NIU baseball team.

After a 20-game road trip to begin the season, NIU (7-13, 2-1 MAC) will play a game at Ralph McKinzie Field.

The first pitch for today’s double header with Bradley University (9-9, 2-1) is scheduled for 1 p.m. as NIU welcomes the start of a nine-game home stand.

The cold game-day temperatures in a 2-1 series win over Ohio this weekend didn’t slow the hot NIU offense, or the swing of junior first baseman Scott Simon, who won his second MAC Player of the Week award.

Simon hit .688 in the three-game set, scored seven runs and knocked in seven RBIs.

“It is a great honor to win this award for a second time this season,” Simon said. “I felt like I had a great rhythm at the plate this weekend. Before our series, I made some hitting adjustments in practice that enabled me to stay back and see the ball better and I was able to benefit from that.”

Senior right fielder Brian Toner said Simon’s offensive showcase was contagious.

“Scotty was a huge table setter for us,” Toner said. “We fed off his momentum. The key is we’ve kept it simple, put the ball in play, hit line drives and found holes. We don’t have a lot of home runs, but we are getting a lot of [hits in the gaps] and everyone understands the need to put the ball in play.”

NIU pounded out an NIU coach Ed Mathey-era three-game series record with 50 hits at Ohio. The fourth-year coach said several factors were behind the offensive onslaught.

“Not taking anything away from our hitters, they have had a good approach,” Mathey said. “But the threat to steal bases has also helped our hitters see more fastballs than breaking balls, and the opposing pitchers are distracted by our base runners.”

Junior third baseman Jesse Seykora has a team-high 10-game hit streak, has raised his average to .333 and is second on the team with 16 RBIs.

“It’s pretty amazing the way the guys have been swinging the bats,” Mathey said.

A pair of lefty pitchers are slated to start for NIU, sophomore Matt Jernstad and senior Brandon Hodge.

It will be the second start for Hodge since his shoulder surgery last year.

Bradley features three starters that own sub-three ERAs. However, they are in the weekend rotation and will most likely not face NIU.

There will be a twist to tomorrow’s rare mid-week doubleheader, with both games being seven-inning contests.

“Bradley is a team out of a great league,” Mathey said. “Both coaching staffs and players know one another, and that gives an added importance to these in-state rivalry games.”

In case Mother Nature does not cooperate, Wednesday has been reserved as a makeup-game day.