March 1, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State baseball head coach Jim Brownlee compares his team's early-season travels to that of the Harlem Globetrotters, as his Redbirds travel all over the country for six straight weekends to begin the season. After stops in Texas and Arkansas thus far, the `Birds travel to Louisville, Ky., to take on the Louisville Cardinals for a three-game set March 2-4 at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The two teams last met in 2004, when the Redbirds took two out of three games from the Cardinals in Louisville. Much has changed since that time, with Louisville having a new coaching staff and being a part of a new conference in the Big East. Brownlee just hopes that his team can continue to improve from its previous two weekends of play.
"We improved a lot from the first weekend to the second weekend and we hope that trend will continue into our third weekend," said Brownlee. "Playing Louisville, who's a solid team, will be good for us. They've done a great job there with their entire athletic department and are part of a good conference in the Big East. They also have a new coaching staff, are very aggressive on the base paths and have some good arm strength. This is one of the series we looked at prior to the season that we thought would really help us get ready for the Valley, and we're ready to get out there and play."
ISU (2-4) is coming off a tough series against the No. 5 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. The `Birds won a 12-10 slugfest over the Hogs on Saturday and let a win slip away in the late innings on Sunday in a 10-inning loss, 9-8. Louisville (4-4) is fresh off a 14-2 victory over Morehead State on Wednesday night.
Brownlee likes what he has seen out of his team so far, but knows there is one key factor his team needs to display in order to compete well for the rest of the season.
"We have to see some consistency," said Brownlee. "We were very good last weekend against Arkansas in the batter's box, probably the best I've seen a team perform in my five years here. So, I hope we can continue to do well at the plate and improve the rest of the season. I'm also looking for consistency out of the bullpen, who has really struggled in the first two series. However, we know those struggles will get corrected with more game experience and more time on the dirt."
The weekend series begins on Friday at 1 p.m., with junior Eric Theisen (1-1, 3.18 ERA) taking the mound for the Redbirds. Freshman Ryan Copeland (1-1, 7.50 ERA) takes the bump on Saturday at noon and senior Luke Baughman (0-1, 6.75) will round out the weekend set on Sunday for ISU, with the game time scheduled for noon.
