Feb. 22, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Clarksville, Tenn., is not where the Illinois State baseball team was expecting to open its season, but it will serve as the home of the Redbirds' season opener Thursday when ISU takes on the Austin Peay Governors (1-0). Thursday's game, which is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m., will precede the third-annual Austin Peay Invitational, which will begin Friday.
ISU expected to open the season last weekend in Arlington, Texas, but travel delays and inclement weather forced the Redbirds to call off the trip. So now, the `Birds' first games of 2006 will take place in Tennessee and head coach Jim Brownlee could not be more anxious to get outside and play some baseball.
"The opportunity to play four games in four days after practicing inside so long has everybody excited and ready to play," said Brownlee. "Baseball is not a sport that is meant to be played inside and we have not had the opportunity to play a game outside yet. With the weather forecast looking great, we should be able to play some good baseball and give many of the players a chance to get on the field and see some action."
Thursday's game with the Governors was scheduled to make up for one of the three lost games from last weekend and will not be part of the invitational, which begins for the Redbirds on Friday when they face Dayton (0-2) at 11:00 a.m. Saturday's game against Iowa (0-0) will be the first of three contests between the two squads in 2006 and also begins at 11:00 a.m. The four-game road trip will end with the second game in three days against Austin Peay on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Brownlee believes this invitational is exactly what his team needs at this point in the season.
"Early in the season it's tough for teams from the north to go play teams from the south that have been playing outside for months and have played 10 games or more," said Brownlee. "This is a great invitational because all of the teams are in the same boat, in that nobody has played a lot of games yet. That should translate into some good games and should give us a very good idea of where we are at as a team."
Junior Kitt Kopach is projected to start Thursday against Austin Peay for the Redbirds, with freshman Ian Berger getting the call for Friday and junior Dan Frega taking the mound on Saturday. Sunday's starter will be decided upon by the coaching staff over the course of the weekend.
