NIU coach Ed Mathey thinks his players have had success against Big Ten programs (2-0) this season because they approach those games as if they were conference games.

The Huskies (13-9) will travel to Iowa today for a 4 p.m. ball game. Taking the mound for NIU will be freshman Nick Hall.

Hall will not be limited on how long he stays on the mound, Mathey said. How the game goes will dictate how long he pitches.

The Hawkeyes (7-9) lost three of four this past weekend at home against Michigan, including a 20-4 loss on Sunday. NIU defeated Michigan 12-8 on March 14 and beat Illinois 12-10 on March 19.

“In some regards, games against the Big Ten rival those of a conference game,” Mathey said. “The fact of the matter is we have a pretty good baseball team when we play like we’re capable of.”

NIU and Iowa have been on different paths the past two weeks as the Huskies have gone 7-2 over that span, while Iowa only has one win in five tries.

“You can never take a Big Ten team easy,” Hall said. “We need to put runs on the board early, pitch with the lead and we’ll be in good shape, especially if the ball keeps rolling like it has for us.”

Hall, a Crystal Lake native, allowed one run on four hits in his first start Wednesday against Bradley, which he and the Huskies won 5-3.

Hall said staying ahead of hitters is key and getting ahead early in the count with his fastball will help his command.

“When you’re ahead in the count, then you’ll get a lot more ground balls and popups,” Hall said.

Iowa doesn’t possess much power as a team with only seven home runs this season, while the Huskies have pounded out 21 homers. However, keeping the Hawkeyes off the basepaths helps, as they stole 36 bases in 16 games. NIU has only 19 stolen bases in 21 contests.