The Major League Baseball regular season may be wrapping up, but here in DeKalb, the NIU baseball team has started its fall workouts.

To fine tune some areas, the Huskies have the annual Red/Black series where the team is divided into two units and take each other on in five games at Ralph McKinzie field.

“This is probably the best opportunity [for the coaches] to evaluate players, other than practice,” said junior transfer outfielder Cory Krupp.

The series is a chance for head coach Ed Mathey to evaluate players returning from last year’s roster, including second team All-Mid-American Conference senior Jordin Hood, as well as fresh faces like Krupp, who played two years at Santa Barbara City College.

Mathey enters his 7th season as head coach for NIU and is the most successful coach in school history, with 167 victories while also holding four out of the five best seasons for wins with 34 (2003), 34 (2007), 31 (2004), and 28 (2008).

With 25 players returning from last year’s roster, the Huskies have a core of players who are seasoned together with the additions of new players who should give them more depth and talent.

Along with Hood, senior Dave Reynolds and sophomore Alex Jones gives them three out of their four returning .300 hitters from last season.

The pitching staff will have win-leader senior Chuck Lukanen plus fifth-year senior Andy Deain coming back from being medically red-shirted.

Deain will provide NIU’s arms with a boost as he ranks third all-time in Huskie history with 95 games pitched.

Though the winner of inter-squad exhibitions isn’t pressing, it’s a matter of the players gelling with each other and the coaches seeing what they have to play with for the 2010 season.

Krupp has already noticed the high level of competitiveness in the exhibition games.

“You can tell by how competitive it is between the two teams that a lot of guys care about this season and how well we can do,” Krupp said.

It won’t be until February when NIU opens its season on the road with a four-game set against juggernaut Arizona State, who participated in the 2009 NCAA World Series.

The final game of the series will be on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

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