Two wins over Central Michigan on Saturday clinched NIU a spot in the MAC Tournament.

At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, the No. 4-seeded Huskies (23-19-1, 13-7-1 MAC) will take on No. 5 Bowling Green (25-24-1, 15-9 MAC). The winner will earn the right to play No. 1 Marshall at 7:30 p.m. later that day.

"We’re peaking at the right time," senior catcher Paige Shemoski said. "We need to continue this upward trend."

No. 3 CMU will defend its MAC Tournament title when it plays No. 6 Miami at 11 a.m. The winner will take on No. 2 Western Michigan at 5 p.m.

However, before the tournament begins Thursday, NIU had other business to take care of.

In their last eight games the Huskies had five wins, one loss and one tie. NIU positioned itself for a shot at the MAC West title.

A Western Michigan loss on Sunday and a Huskies win over the Chippewas would’ve gotten the job done. NIU was not given the chance as Western Michigan beat Ohio 8-2 before the end of an 8-3 loss to CMU on Senior Day.

Lisa Mattke, Erin Holohan and Shemoski all played their last home games Sunday.

"Lisa has been an impact player for two years as a leadoff hitter," NIU coach Donna Martin said. "Holohan did a great job at the end of the season giving us energy."

Shemoski finished the season setting career highs in home runs (five), RBIs (37), runs scored (20) and slugging percentage (.472).

"I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything in the world," Shemoski said.

Six teams make the MAC Tournament for baseball. With 11 games remaining, NIU is barely in, if the season ended today.

The Huskies stand at 26-18 overall and 9-7 in the MAC, which is a half game ahead of Akron, who is on the outside looking in with a 10-9 MAC record.

A home series with Buffalo and Central Michigan before the end of the regular season in two weeks could help the Huskies as both teams are under the .500 mark.

The Huskies will make a trip to Ypsilanti, Mich., next weekend to take on Eastern Michigan (11-7 MAC) for four games.

All three teams left on the conference schedule for NIU have an ERA of 5.39 or higher and have a lower batting average than the Huskies.

"It’s going to come down to how the rest of the league plays out," NIU coach Ed Mathey said. "The last road trip we were on didn’t work out how we would’ve wanted to, but Eastern is going to be big for us this coming weekend."

NIU will depend on its pitching to clinch a spot in the MAC Tournament as the team’s 4.47 earned run average is second in conference.

The Huskies haven’t had a problem hitting the baseball this season hitting .307, which is fourth in the league.

Right fielder Mike Santoro has provided the power for the Huskies as he is now the single-season record holder with 13 home runs. Santoro blasted his record-breaking 13th homer in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader with IUPU-Fort Wayne.

"Mike’s done a great job for us this year," Mathey said. "He’s settled in to the fifth spot quite nicely and his quality of at-bats has started to improve."

However, the one downfall for NIU to make the tournament is that they have committed a MAC-worst 87 errors and have just a .941 fielding percentage.

As MAC men's basketball teams slowly receive bad news, NIU has been graced with the opposite.

Three underclassmen players from MAC teams have been declared for the NBA Draft.

Central Michigan's 7-foot center Chris Kaman, Ball State's 6-foot-8 power forward Theron Smith and Marshall's 6-foot-4 shooting guard Ronald Blackshear all have entered their names in the draft. Two of the three are from NIU's West division.

All three have one year of eligibility remaining and have until a week before the June 25 draft to remove their name and return back to school. However, word is that both Smith and Blackshear have not continued with their classes and the coaches are looking for recruits to replace them already.

While quality-wise this will hurt the MAC's overall competitive level, it does open a path for the Huskies to the MAC title.

NIU graduates only two players in point guard Jay Bates and center Mike Morrison, but returns four of its top five players: power forward Marcus Smallwood, shooting guard Perry Smith and small forwards Todd Peterson and Jamel Staten.

Will soon-to-be sophomore Anthony Maestranzi be able to handle the pressure as the main point guard? How quickly will the incoming freshmen be able to produce at the point guard spot? Is it true that Todd Peterson is still growing - a la Mike Dunleavy Jr. at Duke - and could be a blooming star in the MAC?

Soon-to-be sophomore, 6-foot-10 Bryson McKenzie, has looked great in team workouts and is twice as good as Mike Morrison ever was athletically. A physical guy, McKenzie should be able to beat any big man in the MAC down the floor and has no problem finishing around the hoop. But, the fact remains that he just recently has gotten serious about basketball and is very raw fundamentally.

While Western Michigan has to cope with a coaching change, NIU's coach Rob Judson is staying put after not getting the University of Illinois job. Former WMU head man Robert McCullum, who was an assistant with Judson with the Illini in the late '90s, took off for South Florida.

Judson and McCullum had their share of battles both being in the MAC West together the past two years (McCullum was at WMU three years total), but they aren't expected to end. South Florida has been on NIU's schedule the past two years.

Regardless if NIU plays USF again, the MAC schedule should hold enough surprises, battles and potentially a season at the top for the Huskies.

Sheldon surprises in backup role

Football's Dan Sheldon wasn't even expected to play coming into this season.

But the sophomore from Burlington Central made the most of an injury to P.J. Fleck and excelled in his absence.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound return specialist led the nation in punt return average at 22.7 per return.

-Mark Pickrel

Young gymnastics improved

After winning just seven meets in the last two years, the NIU gymnastics team came in this year with an experienced squad ready to make some noise in the MAC.

Led by MAC Gymnast of the Year Kristina Campos and MAC Freshman of the Year Ashlee Williams, the Huskies did just that. Not only did they go 9-12, they also beat Bowling Green for their first MAC win in 17 meets, finishing with three MAC wins overall.

-Brian Kelley

Knake gets statistical milestone

Kristan Knake didn't end her career the way she wanted to for the women's basketball team.

A string of injuries to the team left the Huskies a disappointing 12-16 overall. Despite closing on a bad note, the senior will leave quite a legacy at NIU.

Knake closed her career as one of only four Huskies with 1,000 points, 300 assists and 200 steals over the course of a career.

-Mark Pickrel

Scott best rookie in MAC

Joi Scott entered the season very unassumingly as a quiet freshman. By the time the season was finished, Scott would become NIU women's basketball team's first ever MAC Freshman of the Year.

Scott began the season not even getting off the bench in the team's first game versus Wisconsin. After a number of injuries to NIU's front line, Scott made her presence felt. Scott averaged 3.5 points before MAC play began in early January, then went on to average 12.9 points and 6.2 rebounds in conference action.

-Chris Jurmann

Smallwood 1st Team All-MAC

Ball State coach Tim Buckley summed up Marcus Smallwood's First-Team All-MAC performance this year in one sentence. "If you cut him open, I don't think his heart could fit inside the Convo Center."

Smallwood became the first Huskie to be named to the conference first team since T.J. Lux did it in 1999-2000.

Smallwood averaged a double-double for the season with 13.3 points and 10.1 rebounds. He finished the year third in the MAC in rebounds and field goal percentage, with a .548 marker.