Redbirds Open Kennel Club Classic at UNF Friday

March 12, 2010

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Illinois State's baseball team concludes its spring break trip with three games at the Kennel Club Classic hosted by the University of North Florida at Harmon Stadium, beginning Friday against James Madison at 6 p.m.

The Redbirds are slated to match-up with JMU (3-5) twice during the weekend, also meeting on Sunday at 10 a.m., and will face the North Florida Ospreys (6-7) Saturday at noon.
Illinois State (4-7) will look to snap a five-game losing skid when it plays the Dukes Friday night. The Redbirds have played five consecutive games against 2009 NCAA Regional qualifiers, including three games against teams currently ranked in the top-25.

The Redbirds were swept in a mid-week series with No. 6 Florida in Gainesville, Fla., prior to arriving in Jacksonville for the Kennel Club Classic.
Illinois State's Kevin Tokarski continues to lead the team with a .486 batting average and a team-best eight extra base hits. Tokarksi has also swiped eight bases and has a .587 on-base percentage through 11 games.

Redbird first baseman Zach Amrein saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end against the Gators, but leads Illinois State with 17 RBI and enters the weekend with a .326 batting average.

Corey Maines (1-0, 3.45) will start Friday night's game for the Redbirds. Illinois State is 2-1 in the junior right-hander's starts this season. Ryan Copeland (0-1, 7.20) and Ryan Camp (1-2, 9.19) will follow Maines in the rotation.

Friday's game marks the first ever between ISU and James Madison. Illinois State lost its only previous meeting with North Florida.

 2010 Kennel Club Classic | Jacksonville, Fla.
 Game 1	 Fri., March 12 vs. James Madison (6 p.m.) | Audio | Live Stats
 Game 2	 Sat., March 13 at North Florida (Noon.) | Audio | Live Stats
 Game 3	 Sun., March 14 vs. James Madison (10 a.m.) | Audio | Live Stats
 Stadium	 Harmon Stadium | Jacksonville, Fla.
 Radio	 WJBC.com (Kevin McCarty- Play-by-Play)
 Game Notes	 Illinois State Notes in PDF Format

Last Time Out
The Redbirds matched No. 6 Florida through the early innings of their two-game, mid-week series but the Gators eventually powered past Illinois State, 8-2 and 8-0. Illinois State has lost five in a row, dropping the first five contests of its spring break trip - all to teams that qualified for NCAA Regional play in 2009. Chad Hinshaw, Jake Thornton and Kevin Tokarski all had two hits for the Redbirds in the series with Florida, but Illinois State was limited to nine hits over two games.

The Opponent: James Madison Dukes

• James Madison University is located in Harrisonburg, Va., and has an enrollment of 18,000. The Dukes are members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
• James Madison returns eight position starters and 11 pitchers from last year's squad that went 30-24 and 12-11 in the CAA standings.
• The Dukes dropped the first three games of the season to stiff competition (Coastal Carolina, NC State and UC Irvine) but rallied with a win at home against Longwood and two wins to open the first weekend of Kennel Club Classic play, including a 12-6 win over North Florida. James Madison has dropped two consecutive prior to its Friday match-ups with North Florida and Illinois State.
• James Madison is coached by Spanky McFarland (Hillsdale '76), who is 376-312-2 in his 13th season as head coach of the Dukes. He has won over 550 games in more than 20 years as a collegiate head coach.
• Friday marks the first meeting between Illinois State and James Madison.

  The Opponent: North Florida Ospreys

• The University of North Florida is located in Jacksonville, Fla., and has an enrollment of 52,112. The Ospreys are members of the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-SUN).
• North Florida was 23-31 in 2009 and posted a .500 mark (15-15) in Atlantic Sun Conference play. The Ospreys were 11-15 at Harmon Stadium.
• UNF has won five of the last seven games entering Friday's contest against James Madison.
• North Florida is coached by Dusty Rhodes, who helped start the program in 1988 and coached the team from the NAIA to Division II, and now Division I level.
• The Ospreys won the only previous meeting between the schools in 2004.