By Bobby Narang
Northern Illinois University baseball is back.
The Northern Illinois Huskies have broken new ground this spring in their program.
Under coach Ryan Copeland, the Huskies have slowly become a consistent program over the course of the last three seasons.
Last weekend, the Huskies captured the Mid-American Conference tournament title, earning the No. 3 seed in the Florida State regional. The Huskies (35-17) will take on Coastal Carolina Friday, May 29 at 7 p.m. in Tallahassee in the program’s first NCAA tournament game since 1972.
“I think this changes expectations and redefines the standards we have as a program,” Copeland said. “The amount of people who told you can’t win at Northern Illinois, it’s too tough of a place, I just never believed that.”
The regional is a double-elimination tournament, so the Huskies are assured of playing at least two games at Florida State. The championship game is slated for Sunday night, May 31.
The Huskies are led by ace pitcher Max Vaisvila, who has an 8-0 record and a 3.04 ERA. Caden Robertson is sparking the offense with 14 home runs and has a .933 OPS.
Ironically, the Huskies made waves in their final season in the Mid-American Conference. Next season, the Huskies will be competing in the Horizon League in baseball, while the football team will be in the Mountain West Conference.
The Huskies won their first Mid-American Conference Baseball Championship May 23, beating Toledo 5-1 to finish a 4-0 run in the tournament.
Also, the Huskies have won a program record 35 games this season, but beating No. 2-seed Coastal Carolina (37-21) will be a difficult task, Copeland said.
“You never known where you’re going to end up and that’s the cool thing about the selection show,” Copeland said. “The reaction from our guys was authentic. Florida State is a special play to play with a lot of history. We’ll have our hands full with Coastal Carolina. It’ll be a highly competitive regional and we’re excited to go compete.”