Trevor Stocking went up to bat and knew he had to make immediate adjustments.

It was a similar story for every other player in Saturday’s NIU doubleheader over St. Xavier, as 55 mph wind gusts picked up sand from the infield. For Stocking, though, the adjustment was easy as he went 2-for-3 in Games 1 and 2.

“All I tried to do was hit line drives,” the freshman shortstop said. “Good things happened out there. I never played in a game like this before.”

“Trevor is starting to come into his own,” NIU baseball coach Dave Schrage said. “We made some adjustments with him Thursday at practice, and with the guys in the top of the order starting to hit, it allows us to move him to the nine spot where he can relax.”

Stocking and the Huskies pounced on the Panthers quickly in Game 2, scoring eight runs in the first five innings en route to an 11-1 victory. The solid pitching of Don Rodman, who improved to 2-1, limited St. Xavier to one run in the first inning.

“I’m happy with how the pitching staff threw today,” Schrage said. “We told them that we need to go right at them. With the wind, we threw more fastballs because we wanted to be more aggressive.”

Noel Danielson took momentum away from the Panthers in Game 1 as he stole second, third and home all in the fourth inning. Before Danielson’s home steal, St. Xavier was leading 1-0. NIU put up one more run in the fourth inning to take the 2-1 lead, then scored runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings to win 7-1.

In Friday’s game against Trinity International, NIU disposed of its opponent 15-3. The Huskies got home runs by Brent Coyner in the seventh and Al Ryniec in the eighth.

The five-game winning streak for the Huskies is their longest since 1996. Last week, they lost to Eastern Michigan in a four-game series.

Rodman said the difference from last week to this week is in the Huskies’ confidence.

“The guys are out there relaxing,” said the senior pitcher. “Everyone is having a fun time out there. That is important, and that is the way that baseball is supposed to be played.”