Last year, NIU football coach Joe Novak had his team 41 seconds away from playing in the MAC championship. Coach Rob Judson got the men’s basketball team to the semifinals of the MAC tournament. Dave Grant got his wrestling squad ranked in the top 25 a season ago.

However, a job that many have overlooked is what NIU rookie coach Ed Mathey did with the baseball team. Last spring, NIU advanced to the MAC tournament – which takes only the top six teams – for only the second time in school history and the first time since 2000.

The Huskies finished 34-24 on the year and had the highlight of their season at the MAC tournament. NIU defeated No. 1 seed Kent State in its first game, before falling to Eastern Michigan and Ohio to end the year.

Even though it’s freezing in DeKalb, it’s warm enough to play baseball in Texas, which is where the Huskies will travel this weekend to begin their much-anticipated 2004 season. The Huskies will play games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday against Texas Tech and even though the games are non-conference and don’t essentially matter, this team has a lot to play for.

Predicted third in the MAC West by the league’s coaches, NIU needs to win for the fans and alumni. The Huskies need to live up to this billing and at least make the MAC tournament again.

This season, we’ve already seen the football and basketball teams fail to live up to the hype as the preseason No. 1 teams in the MAC. The football team had a tremendous year, finishing No. 26 in both polls, ranking as high as No. 12 at one point and should have been in a bowl game instead of Northwestern – but the Huskies didn’t achieve their ultimate goal of becoming MAC champs.

The basketball team still can be MAC champs, but after losing eight in a row and having internal problems, it looks nearly impossible that the team can put together four wins in a row.

I’m sure if you ask Mathey or any of the baseball players, they will say their goal is not any different than the football or basketball teams, or any team here on campus. Baseball isn’t as popular as football or basketball here at NIU, but for once can we be tabbed as winners instead of the team that let it slip away?