Even though the NIU baseball team is over .500 and playing well right now, coach Dave Schrage believes the team won’t get respect until it proves it can win in conference.

This weekend, the Huskies travel to Western Michigan for a four-game series. They are 0-7 in the Mid-American Conference and haven’t looked impressive in any of the games.

“The programs in our conference are well-developed programs,” Schrage said. “Right now they are more established than us, but hopefully that will change.”

NIU goes into this four-game set on a six-game winning streak, the Huskies’ longest since the baseball program was brought back in 1991. But the team needs a few wins within the conference to boost its confidence and increase the streak.

In the past week and a half, NIU has turned out great pitching and good hitting, defeating Mount St. Clare 7-0. Huskie hurlers haven’t allowed an earned run in their last 28 innings pitched.

Noel Danielson and Trevor Stocking were key in the recent wins, each hitting the ball well. Danielson’s average is .387, while Stocking’s .326.

“We need to get some wins within the conference in order to get some confidence and momentum,” Schrage said. “The level of competition in our conference is very good and for us to get any respect from those teams, we need to beat them.”