NORMAL, Ill. - After ending the month of April with a walk-off win over Butler, the Illinois State Redbirds open the month of May with a pair of non-conference road games at at Milwaukee and Northern Illinois.
Tuesday, May 1 | 3 p.m.
Live Audio: Black & Gold Network
Live Stats: MKEPanthers.com
Illinois State Starting Pitcher:
Jacob Gilmore, LHP, 0-0, 4.70 ERA
Milwaukee Starting Pitcher: Elijah Goodman, RHP, 1-0, 7.20 ERA
Wednesday, May 2 | 3 p.m.
Live Video: NIUHuskies.com
Live Stats: NIUHuskies.com
Illinois State Starting Pitcher: TBA
Northern Illinois Starting Pitcher: TBA
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS (16-22)
Milwaukee enters the weekend after dropping a trio of games against UIC, in which the Panthers were out-scored 11-0 over the three games, were held to just nine hits over 87 at-bats (.103 batting average), and did not have a baserunner successfully reach second base.
 This season the Panthers are led on the offensive end by Devin Rybacki, who is batting .344 with 31 hits in 90 at-bats. Mike Ferri (.296) and Ben Chally (.292) is just off of the .300 pace. Trevor Schwecke has scored 31 runs to lead the team, while also leading the team with nine stolen bases. Tyler Bordner has a team-best four home runs and 25 RBI's.
Pitcher Austin Schulfer has a 4-5 record and a 3.56 ERA, striking out 68 batters in 65.2 innings of work. Brandon Parr has saved a team-best three saves, to go with a 3.45 ERA and a 1-1 record.Â
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES (15-28)
Northern Illinois comes into the mid-week contest after dropping a three-game series with the Ball State Cardinals by scores of 3-2 (11 innings), 11-0, and 5-4.Â
Brad Wood paces the Huskies with a .301 batting average and 12 doubles. He also has 15 walks and 14 times he was hit by pitch, for 29 free bases against 28 strikeouts. Samuel Vega has a team-best 23 runs scored, as he, Wood, and Jake Dunham each have 20 RBI's to tie for the team lead.
Tanner Foster (2-4) and Michael Lasiewicz (5-5) lead the team in strikeouts with 64 and 60, respectively. Andrew Frankenreider has four of the team's five saves. As a team, the Huskies have better than a 2-to-1 ratio of strikeouts to walks (321-to-159).
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS (15-24)
Illinois State won on a walk-off sacrifice fly off the bat of
Derek Parola to split a two-game series with the Butler Bulldogs on Saturday and Sunday.
For the season the Redbirds have two student-athletes -
Owen Miller and
John Rave - batting over .300. Miller leads the team and is second in the MVC in batting average at .374, while Rave is at .335.
Collin Braithwaite is just off of the .300 plateau at .291. Miller leads the team with 35 runs scored and six stolen bases. Rave has scored 33 times with a team-high six home runs and 36 RBI's. Braithwaite has driven in 30, and has drawn a team-best 22 walks.
The pitching staff is led by a trio of sophomores,
Brady Huffman (1-3, 4.40 ERA),
Matt Walker (4-1, 4.47 ERA), and
Brent Headrick (1-6, 6.47 ERA). Huffman leads the trio with 49 strikeouts, while Headrick and Walker have 46 and 45 strikeouts, respectively.Â
