April 6, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State baseball team will host in-state rival Northern Illinois at Duffy Bass Field Tuesday and travel to Purdue Wednesday in a pair of non-conference, mid-week contests. Tuesday's game with the Huskies will start at 6 p.m. and Wednesday's game in West Lafayette, Ind., will begin at 4 p.m.
Illinois State went 1-2 in a Missouri Valley Conference series at Wichita State over the weekend and sit at 13-9 overall, and 4-3 in the conference. The Redbirds are 4-1 at the newly renovated Duffy Bass Field and look to add to that total when they send sophomore right-handed pitcher Ben Hays against Northern Illinois lefty, Tom Barry. Hays will be making his first appearance of the 2009 season.
Northern Illinois (11-17, 4-4 MAC) is looking to bounce back after suffering a weekend sweep to Kent State. Barry is 2-0 with a 5.14 ERA in five appearances, including two as a starter. Jordin Hood leads the Huskies offensively with a .416 batting average and four home runs. Hood has also clubbed 12 doubles and stolen a team-high nine bases.
Illinois State is hitting .274 as a team and continue to be led by junior first baseman Evan Kohli, who is hitting .338 with a team-high 16 RBI. Mike Stalowy raised his average to .300 with a 7-for-14 performance, which included three doubles and a triple, in last week's games.
Purdue will play Ball State at home Tuesday, but enter the week with a 13-12 record. Purdue took two out of three from Big Ten Conference foe Iowa over the weekend. The Boilermakers are hitting .307 as a team and the pitching staff has posted a 6.39 ERA. Illinois State's Quinn Ewert is a possible starter for Wednesday's contest and his probable opponent was unknown Monday.
