Northern Illinois baseball selected to Tallahassee Regional
For the first-- and last-- time as a MAC member, NIU will represent the conference as its champion.
The Northern Illinois Huskies (35-17, 21-12 MAC) swept their way through the Mid-American Conference Baseball Championship as the four-seed, winning all four contests in Avon, Ohio to clinch their spot in the NCAA Baseball Regionals.
NIU had to beat top-seed Miami in a 15-inning stunner for the chance to advance, and eventually took two games from third-seed Toledo to claim the trophy.
The Huskies defeated the Toledo Rockets in the second game by the final score of 5-1 on Saturday night to claim the league's postseason title for the first time ever– and clinch a national postseason spot for the first time since 1972, when the Huskies were members of the Midwestern Conference.
On Monday afternoon, NIU got their regional assignment, and will now head to Tallahassee, Florida to begin their potential run to the College World Series.
The Tallahassee Regional, which will be hosted by the group top seed Florida State, also features St. John's and Coastal Carolina.
NIU's first game, against #2 seed Coastal Carolina, is set for Friday, May 29th at 8 p.m. Eastern time, with the broadcast on ESPN+. The Chanticleers, who reached the championship round of the College World Series last season, finished 37-21 overall in 2026 and were runners-up in the Sun Belt Conference with a 21-9 league record.
Should NIU win, they would face the winner of Florida State vs. St. John's at 1 p.m. ET the following evening. Should NIU lose, they would face the loser of FSU/St. John's at 6 p.m. ET Saturday.
Sunday will group the winner of Game 3 vs. the loser of Game 4 at 1 p.m. ET, with the winners of Game 4 and Game 5 to play at 6 p.m. ET.
If necessary, the Game 6 participants can play a rubber match on Monday.
The winner of the Tallahassee Regional will go on to face the winner of the Tuscaloosa Regional in the Super Regional round.
