The NIU baseball team’s loss to Bradley on Wednesday gave the Huskies their longest losing streak of the season. As the Huskies begin MAC play Friday, they find themselves in a situation coach Ed Mathey said he did not want.

“The MAC is going to be tough, and it’s going to be competitive,” Mathey said. “I think the biggest thing for us is that we need to solidify on the defensive end to give ourselves a chance on days that we’re not hitting. That’s one of the things we’re going to talk about going into this next game.”

Since beating Lakeland College on March 20, the Huskies have gone 1-4 with their lone win coming by one run over Division-III Wheaton College. The four losses were to defending Big Ten champion Minnesota, Northern Colorado and Iowa at the Iowa Cubs/Hawkeye Classic, as well as Bradley.

On Friday, the Huskies will take on Ball State in their MAC opener. Mathey said a strong start in conference play only will help the Huskies in their quest for the MAC championship.

“It’s huge,” Mathey said. “We’ve got two days before we play Ball State in their backyard. They’re coming off a 1-2 weekend last weekend, so they’re looking to make some noise. So we’ve got our work cut out for us this weekend; there’s no doubt about that.”

Jake Blair hit NIU’s only home run against Bradley. The junior right fielder said he is confident NIU will break out of its slump eventually.

“We haven’t really been hitting the ball well, but it’s something that we can fix,” Blair said. “Our goal is to win the MAC, and we all know that. So I think we’re going to bear down when it comes down to it, and we’ll all be fine.”