First-Place Huskies Travel to Bowling Green for Weekend Series :: NIU sports the MAC's highest batting average, lowest ERA in conference games

March 27, 2008

Games 21-23: March 28-30
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (9-11, 3-0) at BOWLING GREEN (8-7, 0-0)
Friday: 2 p.m. CT; Saturday: Noon CT; Sunday: Noon CT
Location: Warren E. Steller Field, Bowling Green, Ohio
Live Coverage: CSTV GameTracker via NIUHuskies.com
Series History: Bowling Green leads 12-6-1
Ed Mathey vs. BGSU: 6-4
Last Meeting: 2005 (4/15-17) at DeKalb, BG 5-1, BG 4-3 (11), NIU 6-5 Notes: NIU took two of three games in the last series played at Bowling Green in 2004 ... The Huskies are 12-3 against East Division opponents over the past two seasons ... Three of the last four series meetings have come in DeKalb.

PROBABLE PITCHERS
G1: NIU RHP Trevor Feeney (1-2, 4.45) vs. BGSU RHP Frank Berry (2-0, 1.35)
G2: NIU LHP Adam Holdenrid (3-1, 2.39) vs BGSU LHP Kevin Light (1-1, 4.85)
G3: NIU TBA vs. BGSU RHP Kevin Leady (1-1, 2.45)

SHORT HOPS
-Head coach Ed Mathey became the winningest coach in Northern Illinois history with a win in game one of last Saturday's doubleheader at Buffalo. The Huskies recorded a series sweep, their first MAC road series sweep since 2001, to begin conference play 3-0 for the second consecutive season. Complete games by Trevor Feeney and Adam Holdenrid led the Huskies to their two victories on Saturday.

-The Huskies feature two players on three national award watch lists: C Matt Behren (Johnny Bench Award) and P Andy Deain (Brooks Wallace Award and Roger Clemens Award). This season marks the second consecutive season that NIU has had multiple players on national watch lists.

-Northern Illinois will face Notre Dame on April 16 at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. Tickets went on sale March 24 and all proceeds will benefit the NIU February 14 Scholarship Fund.

-Danny Reed compiled a career-best 17-game hitting streak that ended Wednesday at Iowa. His mark was the second-longest streak on record at NIU. Last season, Reed posted a 15-game hitting streak that tied for the second-longest on record at NIU.

-Northern Illinois leads the MAC in team batting average (.342) and ERA (2.33) in conference games. Individually, Dave Reynolds leads the league in hits, home runs, doubles, RBI and total bases while Bobby Stevens is tops in runs scored and stolen bases in conference games. On the mound, Adam Holdenrid leads in lowest batting average against (.100) while he and Feeney are tied for the lead in inning pitched and complete games.

HUSKIES TO PLAY AT "THE CELL"
Northern Illinois will face Notre Dame at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, on Wednesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. and all proceeds from tickets sales will benefit the NIU February 14 Scholarship Fund. Tickets are available for $10 lower level reserved seating at whitesox.com, Ticketmaster phone lines, Chicagoland Ticketmaster outlets, the NIU campus box office and the U.S. Cellular Field box office. The Huskies and Fighting Irish last met on the diamond in 2005.

IN MEMORIUM
As a tribute to the victims of the Feb. 14 campus tragedy, Northern Illinois is wearing ribbon logo decals on the back of its batting helmets along with patches on its jerseys that feature the ribbon logo and the words "Forward, Together Forward."

WHITE SOX, ROYALS REACH OUT
As part of the Huskies season-opening trip to Arizona, the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals each honored the team prior to their Feb. 27 Cactus League openers. Head coach Ed Mathey and pitcher Trevor Feeney threw out the first pitch prior to the White Sox-Rockies game in Tucson as the Sox donned NIU baseball hats during the contest. In Surprise, senior outfielders Jeff Thomas and Danny Reed threw out the first pitch prior to the Royals-Rangers game and afterwards Kansas City manager Trey Hillman and former standout Frank White spoke to the team.

SOX AUCTION RAISES $10,000
The White Sox auctioned NIU baseball items signed by a number of Sox players along with two additional autographed White Sox items with proceeds benefiting the NIU February 14 Scholarship Fund. The bids from fans for the six items totaled $7,091. Chicago White Charities contributed another $2,909 for a total donation of $10,000.

HOMEGROWN TALENT
Northern Illinois has 24 Chicagoland natives on its 2008 roster, the highest concentration of Chicago-area players (83 percent) of any Division I school in Illinois. The Huskies have 26 players (90 percent) who hail from the Land of Lincoln and three non-Illinois natives who all originate from different states, including Minnesota and representation from the "sunshine states" of California and Florida.

DOWNING THE VALLEY
The Huskies have compiled a 21-14 (.600) record against Missouri Valley Conference opponents over the past six seasons, including a stellar 3-2 (.600) mark so far in 2008. NIU has been .500 or better each season against MVC competition since 2003 while facing Southern Illinois, Bradley, Illinois State and Northern Iowa during that stretch.

SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALL RIGHT
Five of Northern Illinois' nine victories this season have come on Saturdays, including a pair of doubleheader sweeps at Southern Illinois and Buffalo. The Huskies own a 5-1 (.833) Saturday record in 2008.

BIG TEN TRIUMPHS
With Northern Illinois' 5-4 victory over Iowa on March 26, head coach Ed Mathey improved to 7-5 against Big Ten opponents. The Huskies have won four of their last five games against Big Ten teams.

LAND OF LINCOLN LEADERS
Northern Illinois is one of just three Division I Illinois schools to post three 30-plus win seasons in the past five years (with Southern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago). Along the way, the Huskies have made a habit of winning their games against intrastate opposition under Ed Mathey, compiling a sparkling 45-21 (.682) record since 2003 for the highest victory total of any Illinois team versus in-state opponents during that span. Over the past two seasons, NIU has a 23-7 (.767) record against Division I intrastate foes, including an 11-2 mark in 2006 when they notched wins over all seven Land of Lincoln opponents to claim the Illinois "state championship."

UNCAGED DANIMAL
Senior pitcher Dan Atkenson has already surpassed his previous three-year career totals this season with 20.1 innings and 24 strikeouts as a key member of the Huskie pitching staff. One of the team's hardest workers, Atkenson entered the year with 12 appearances and 16.2 innings and has developed into a mainstay of the bullpen with a 2.66 ERA in 10 appearances and a 4.8 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio while ranked second in the MAC in strikeouts and seventh in ERA. In a seven-inning game on March 25 against Bradley, Atkenson hurled a "complete game" in relief by setting career highs with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings while yielding just one run on five hits to earn the win in his first career decision.

STAMPEDING BUFFALO
Northern Illinois set a school-record for MAC victory margin in its 17-1 rout of Buffalo on March 22. During the three-game series, NIU outscored the Bulls 33-8. Along the way, the Huskies maintained their perfect 12-0 all-time record against Buffalo.

DOUBLE VISION
Trevor Feeney and Adam Holdenrid each hurled complete games in the Huskies' doubleheader sweep March 22 at Buffalo. Feeney yielded just three earned runs in his outing before Holdenrid shut the door and allowed just three hits and one earned run in the nitecap. It marked the first time that NIU got consecutive complete game pitching performances since the 2005 season.

THOU SHALT STEAL
Northern Illinois enters the weekend having stolen at least one base in 10 of its last 11 games for a season total of 30. Seven different NIU players have a stolen bases, led by Bobby Stevens' 10. Stevens ranks second in the MAC overall and leads the league in conference steals.

BATTLE TESTED
Northern Illinois has been anything but shy when it comes to scheduling the top programs in college baseball. This season the Huskies faced No. 25 Oklahoma and two teams receiving votes in the NCBWA poll (Texas San Antonio and Dallas Baptist) during their spring trip and will play Notre Dame on April 16. During Ed Mathey's tenure, the Huskies have made trips to take on nationally-ranked foes Arizona State, Nebraska, Texas Tech and Florida Atlantic. Future NIU opponents include more college baseball powers with games against Mississippi State, Arizona State, Oregon State, Missouri, and USC in the next two seasons.

ALL IN THE FAMILY
The surname Badgley is synonymous with Northern Illinois baseball as outfielder/pitcher Nick becomes the third member of the family to don the Cardinal and Black. The latest Badgley was a junior college All-American last season and succeeds brothers Dan (1997-2001) and Mark (2003-07), who both pitched for the Huskies. Younger brother Zach signed a National Letter of Intent with Northern Illinois in November and will be a freshman on the 2009 team. All told, NIU has had a Badgley on the roster every season except one (2002) since 1997, a trend that could eventually span 16 seasons when the youngster brother, Zach, is scheduled to be a senior on the 2012 squad.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ed Mathey has had 17 players sign professional contracts during his five seasons at Northern Illinois, including an active streak of five years with at least Major League affiliate signee. Most recently, pitchers Mark Badgley and Matt German signed with Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies following the completion of their eligibility in 2007. Both hurlers pitched for their respective organization's Class A affiliates last season with German earning a promotion to the South Atlantic League. Also signing professionally after his senior season a year ago was Scott Simon, who inked a contract with the Southern Illinois Miners of the independent Frontier League. The trio of Badgley, German and Simon are currently active in professional baseball.

HALL OF FAME MATERIAL
The National College Baseball Hall of Fame requested a bat from former NIU standout Scott Simon (2003-07) to add to its memorabilia. Simon is the Mid-American Conference's all-time hit king with 318 and owns 10 Huskie career and season records.

GENTLEMEN AND SCHOLARS
Northern Illinois baseball continued its success in the classroom with a total of 13 players posting cumulative grade point averages of 3.0 or better through the fall. Pat Minogue and freshman Zach Oates and Tom Zelasko comprised the trio of players who earned Victory Scholar (3.5-4.0 GPA) recognition. Huskie Scholar (3.0-3.49) accolades went to 10 players: Brad Allen, Dan Atkenson, Nick Badgley, Cody Beck, Matt Behren, Joe Buonavolanto, Joe Etcheverry, Tim Kamin, Marvin Sanchez and Bobby Stevens.

STREAKERS
Pat Minogue owns the longest active NIU hitting streak at seven games. Only Danny Reed (17) and Jeff Thomas (12) have had longer streaks this season.

ETC.
A collection of random facts about Huskie personnel ... Head coach Ed Mathey is a member of the 2008 College Baseball Hall of Fame Voting Committee as the Midwest's "active coaches" regional representative ... Matt Behren, Pat Minogue, Brian Smith and Bobby Stevens were selected as 2008 team captains ... Joe Buonavolanto's parents own the popular "Buona Beef" restaurants in the Chicagoland area ... Brandon Copp, whose mother is a police officer (but does not have the last name Copp), wears the number "five-oh" ... Joe Etcheverry is the first Californian to play for the Huskies ... At 6'7" Zach Oates is the tallest Huskie player to take the field since 1980 ... Jeff Thomas is writing a blog titled "Out in Left Field" throughout the season on NIUHuskies.com.