Riding a five-game winning streak, the NIU baseball team heads into a doubleheader at 1 p.m. today at Bradley.

“The [Illinois trips] are definitely not the trips we took to Louisville, Memphis and South Carolina,” NIU coach Ed Mathey. “But they are still games on the road and the other team still has the last at bat.”

The game also marks the final of the season for NIU before starting conference play against Toledo on Friday. Mathey can get one last look at what team he plans to field for MAC play.

“I think we’ve got 12, 13 or 14 guys that are going to be seeing steady action in the lineup,” Mathey said. “I feel pretty confident with the way our lineup is set up. But if things happen to change we also have some versatility in our lineup. We can move some guys around; that’s a good thing to have.”

Joe Mazzuca, Mike Santoro and Rob Marconi are the only players to have started in every game this season.

Game 2 of the doubleheader will see freshman Nick Hall making his first appearance in a starting role of the season.

“It’s going to be good to see Nick get out there and get some consistent innings,” Mathey said. “It’s a situation that is going to be good for him to go out, relax and throw some quality pitches and get some innings under his belt.”

Hall has made eight relief appearances this season.

“I’m pumped, I’ve been in the bullpen for the last 16 games, so it’s going to be nice to get a first start,” Hall said. “I expect to go out there and let the defense take care of it: get ground balls, get pop flies, do what I can to help us win.”

The game also marks the third of eight games the Huskies will play against Illinois schools this season. NIU is currently 1-1 against in-state schools, losing to Southern Illinois 8-4 on March 2 and beating the University of Illinois 12-10 on March 19.

“It’s a rivalry with us, U of I, Northwestern, teams like that,” Hall said. “We’ve already beaten U of I this year, it’s almost like an in-state championship.”