April 5, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State baseball team took care of business last weekend at home with a three-game sweep of Missouri Valley Conference foe Missouri State to even its conference record at 3-3. This weekend, the Redbirds (12-14, 3-3 MVC) will have go on the road and win against Northern Iowa (11-4, 1-5 MVC) in a three-game set in Waterloo, Iowa, in order to improve their place in the Valley standings.
ISU has won three of its last four contests heading into the series, with their loss coming on Tuesday, 8-6, at Northern Illinois. The Panthers have lost five-straight contests, beginning with losses to Missouri State and Minnesota and ending with being swept by Creighton last weekend. Last year, the Redbirds took two out of three games from the Panthers at Redbird Field.
Illinois State head coach Jim Brownlee knows how important this weekend is for his team's confidence and for the rest of the season.
"This is a big three-game series for us because if we play good baseball, we have a good chance to be successful the rest of the season on the road," said Brownlee. "We didn't play well at Southern Illinois, but made up for it a little bit by winning three last weekend in conference play at home. If this weekend turns out well for us, it will be nice to work off some wins on the road as we start our nine-game home stand."
Consistency on the mound and in the batter's box will also be something to watch this weekend for ISU. Brownlee realizes that his team has not been very consistent throughout the year, but hopes his team can maintain their approach from last weekend.
"We haven't been very consistent in most aspects of the game and that has been a major weakness for us," said Brownlee. "Our defense has been pretty steady, but our pitching and hitting have been very inconsistent throughout. We know we have a really good offensive team, if they can stay mentally locked in at the plate. Our pitchers were also really good last weekend, and we need both the offense and defense to click for us this weekend."
Friday's series opener will begin at 4 p.m. at Waterloo Riverfront Stadium, with junior Eric Theisen (2-4) taking the mound for ISU. Senior Luke Baughman (0-2) will take the hill in Saturday's 2 p.m. contest and senior Mike Hlavacek (1-0) will start for ISU in Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m.
