NIU baseball coach Ed Mathey thinks this weekend’s Iowa Cubs/Hawkeye Classic will help keep his team hungry for the conference season.

The Huskies (12-7 overall) will take on Minnesota at 2 p.m. today, Northern Colorado at 11 a.m. Saturday and Iowa at 2 p.m. Sunday at Sec Taylor Stadium, home of the Iowa Cubs – the AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

Last season, the Huskies went 3-0 against Big Ten teams, beating Michigan, Illinois and Iowa.

NIU will pitch its two aces against the Big Ten foes, with senior Zach Minor going against Minnesota today and senior Joe Piekarz in the finale on Sunday against the Hawkeyes. Right- hander Nick Hall will take the mound against Northern Colorado.

“We’re throwing our left-handers against the Big Ten teams,” Mathey said. “We believe we have a better chance of beating them with the lefties out there, according to our scouting reports.”

Piekarz is 3-2 with a 1.70 earned run average. He pitched six scoreless innings in his outing last Saturday against Lakeland College. Minor is a perfect 4-0 with a 1.71 ERA.

NIU has won three consecutive games, but all three came against Division III schools. On Wednesday, the Huskies won a 5-4 decision over Wheaton College, with no Huskie collecting more than one hit.

“It’s a concern the way we went about our approach on Wednesday,” Mathey said. “It wasn’t solid; we let pitches we could handle pass. Our team is capable of putting up good numbers against good teams. We just need to come out with the right approach this weekend.”

Third baseman Rob Marconi leads the team in home runs with three, while sophomore designated hitter Scott Simon continues to lead the Huskies and the MAC in average (.466), doubles (13) and RBIs (34).

“I like our chances,” Mathey said. “This should be a great weekend for us going into conference by playing in a tournament format at a AAA field. It will be great for our guys.”