April 16, 2009
Redbird Baseblog
NORMAL, Ill. - Something didn't feel right for the Illinois State baseball team this week as the Redbirds dropped a pair of mid-week contests and lost back-to-back games for just the third time this season. Curing what ails the team may not be as easy as taking a Tums but a strong dose of weekend starters Ryan Camp, Ryan Copeland and Corey Maines will help as Illinois State resumes its Missouri Valley Conference slate and starts a three-game series at Northern Iowa Friday at 6:30 p.m.
"We lost a little bit of our grit," Illinois State head coach Jim Brownlee said. "We've been so tough at winning games late - we've won seven out of eight one run games. We didn't have that look in our eye. I don't think it will carry over into the weekend, We'll be ready to go, we're pretty confident. The guy in the middle of the diamond has a lot to do with that. We've really pitched pretty well."
The healing process begins with Camp, who is slated to start against Northern Iowa's Nick Kirk (3-3, 2.88 ERA) Friday when the series begins at Riverfront Stadium. Camp has led the Redbird to series-opening wins in each of the team's first four conference sets and is 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA in Valley games. He struck out a career-high nine batters as he helped lift the team to its first win at Wichita State since 1995, and pitched a career-best seven innings as the Redbirds handed Missouri State its first conference loss last Saturday (April 11).
Copeland, Illinois State's staff ace last season, anchors the middle of the rotation and will square off against Derek Ott (2-3, 4.60 ERA), the reigning State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week, Saturday. Copeland continues to be the workhorse of the staff with a team-leading 52.2 innings pitched and three complete games. The junior left-hander fanned 10 batters in his last start against Missouri State and is 2-4 with a 3.59 ERA this season.
Maines has been a pleasant surprise for Illinois State. The sophomore is 5-2 with a 3.35 ERA in eight starts and is limiting opposing hitters to a .192 batting average. Maines leads the Redbirds with 45 strikeouts and has walked 17 in 51.0 innings. He'll likely face Carlos Pinedo (1-5, 6.55 ERA) in Sunday's game at 1 p.m.
"The confidence level of your players goes up when they know those three guys are there for the weekend," Brownlee said. "They're healthy and they're throwing strikes. You play a little bit better defense behind them because you know they're going to put the ball in play and they're not going to walk the ballpark. You get a little bit of a different attitude - a good attitude. This is by far the three best starters that we've had since I've been here."
Mike Stalowy leads the Redbirds' offense with a .340 batting average. He earned MVC Player of the Week honors after he batted .526 (10-for-19) in four games last week, including a walk-off single in the series opener against Missouri State and scoring the game-winning run against the Bears in the 10th inning Sunday. Evan Kohli (.333), Ryan Court (.315) and Collin Salzenstein (.313) are all hitting over .300 for Illinois State.
Northern Iowa counters with seven regular starters who hit over .300 and a combined team average of .291 in 33 games. Junior college transfer Jeff Taliaferro leads the Panthers with 16 doubles and Travis Bennett is close behind with 13. Deric Manrique is batting .310 and has swiped 22 bases.
