Following two dominating performances on the mound during the Illinois State baseball teams spring trip, Redbird senior Matt Fowles has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week.
Fowles, a Fulton, Mo., native, made two starts on the spring trip and picked up wins in both outings. In his first outing of the week on Monday, March 14, Fowles went six innings and gave up only four hits with three strikeouts in a 6-2 Redbird victory over Bucknell in Bradenton, Fla.
Fowles (3-0) took to the hill again last Saturday and was even more impressive, as he allowed only two hits in six innings of work and recorded six strikeouts in a 2-1 win over Cornell in Sarasota, Fla. In the game, Fowles and reliever Eric Theisen gave up only three hits combined the entire game.
I thought in both games Matt came out and set the tone exactly the way that we ask our pitchers to do, said Redbird head coach Jim Brownlee. He was dominating in both games and whats exciting is that hes improved every outing. Hes earned the right to be our starting pitcher when we open conference play on Friday against Creighton. The great thing about Matt is that I think he will improve a great deal as the season progresses, so hell be fun to watch.
While the Redbirds open conference play on Friday against Creighton, they open their home schedule against Missouri on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. at Redbird Field. Following the game with Missouri, ISU will take on South Dakota State on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. before hosting the Bluejays for three games this weekend.
