March 24, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State baseball team will play two non-conference games this week in preparation for its second week of Missouri Valley Conference play, beginning with St. Louis Tuesday at 2 p.m. at The Billiken Sports Center. Senior Tyler Cox (2-0, 6.00 ERA) will start Tuesday's game, while freshman Ben Hays (0-0, 3.48 ERA) is the probable starter for the Redbirds' home game Wednesday against in-state rival Eastern Illinois. Wednesday's game, which is scheduled to start at 3 p.m., is also the first "Dollar Day" at Duffy Bass Field, where the price of admission and hot dogs are only $1.
Illinois State is in the midst of a three-game losing streak heading into this week's games, after dropping three games to No. 15 Wichita State at Duffy Bass Field last weekend. While he was disappointed in the team's performance last weekend, head coach Jim Brownlee feels that the games this week will allow the team to get back on track as it begins the heart of conference play
"We got away from the fundamentals this past weekend, and didn't make some routine plays, which really cost us," said Brownlee. "But Wichita State is a very good team. We had a legitimate chance to win two of the three games if we could have done what we had been doing prior to the series. I'm not sure why we couldn't put it together but we will continue to be more fundamentally sound, assignment correct and mentally tough. We will learn from last weekend, and this week will allow some guys to get some more innings under their belt and other guys the chance to get some more at-bats. We will see who is going to step up, and that's what mid-week games are all about."
St. Louis heads into Tuesday's game also on a three-game losing-streak, as the Billikens were swept by Charlotte in an Atlantic-10 Conference matchup last weekend. The Billikens (8-11, 0-3 A-10) will send Chris Merrick to the mound Tuesday. Merrick is 1-0 with a 5.11 earned-run average (ERA) in three appearances (two starts) this season. SLU is led at the plate by sophomore Mike Beal, who has recorded a team-high .409 batting average, to go along with a .500 slugging percentage.
Illinois State and Eastern Illinois have already met once this season, with the Redbirds winning, 7-1, at the IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) March 13. However, the Panthers head into Wednesday's game on a five-game winning-streak. Eastern Illinois swept Morehead State last weekend in EIU's Ohio Valley Conference opening-series. The Panthers (8-9, 3-0 OVC) will send Mike Recchia to the mound in Wednesday's game. Recchia is 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA in four appearances this season.
Live stats for both games will be available on GoRedbirds.com. In addition, Wednesday's game against Eastern Illinois will be streamed live on the internet. The official home for Redbird baseball, WJBC-AM 1230 Bloomington, will be airing the game live at www.wjbc2.com, and Zach Parcell will be handling the play-by-play duties.
