The Illinois State baseball team will be looking for its ninth consecutive win at Redbird Field when they host the SMS Bears for a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series beginning Friday night at 6 p.m.
Illinois State (24-22) has won 12 of its last 16 games, including eight in a row at home, following a three-game sweep of Indiana State last weekend at Redbird Field. ISU is currently tied with Indiana State for sixth place in the league, however because the Birds swept the Sycamores, Illinois State would be in the conference tournament if it started today.
We had a good weekend against Indiana State that really got us back in the hunt for a conference tournament appearance, said head coach Jim Brownlee. We really need to take care of business again this weekend at home.
SMS (18-29, 4-14) was picked third in the preseason Valley poll, however with two conference weekends left, the struggling Bears find themselves in last place in the league.
SMS is playing much better now than they were at the beginning of the season, said Brownlee. Coach (Keith) Guttin does a great job with that program and they are always ready to play every time they walk on the field. We are very similar in that we are both young teams who struggled early but it looks like we both have got things turned around. Im definitely glad were at home against these guys.
The biggest key to the weekend for us is to catch the ball and play good defense added Brownlee. I think well pitch well and I think well compete in the batters box against their pitching, which is pretty good. In our two sweeps in the league, the difference has been that weve played excellent defense. We need to make them earn their runs and not give them any free ones.
First pitch Friday night is set for 6 p.m. from Redbird Field. Saturdays game will begin at 2 p.m. while the home-finale will be Sunday at 1 p.m. Brownlee has yet to set his pitching rotation for the weekend.
Gametracker will be available for all games this weekend. Additionally, all three games will be broadcast on www.wjbc2.com. Links to both free services can be found on the baseball schedule at www.redbirds.org.
