March 1, 2012
In search of its fifth-straight win, the Illinois State baseball team travels to Cape Girardeau, Mo., this weekend for a four-game, non-conference set against Southeast Missouri State.
The Redbirds (4-3) enter the series following a three-game sweep of Tennessee Tech, while the Redhawks (5-4) won both of their mid-week games against Hannibal-LaGrange College. SEMO also took two-out-of-three games from Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne last weekend.
"This will be another good test for us," Illinois State head coach Mark Kingston said. "Southeast Missouri State has traditionally had very good success in the Ohio Valley Conference. We will use this weekend to continue to focus on the overall improvement of all areas on our team."
After Illinois State's offense scored just eight runs in the Redbirds' first three games of the season, ISU has driven in 56 runs over its last four games. In Illinois State's series finale at Tennessee Tech, the Redbirds hit seven home runs, including two grand slams, to beat TTU, 28-2.
Kyle Stanton and Brett Kay both lead ISU with a .500 batting average, and Stanton has collected a team-high 11 RBI with one home run and two doubles.
Southeast Missouri's Trenton Moses is leading the Redhawks so far this year with a .438 average, including 11 RBI, two home runs, one triple and three doubles. Moses was selected as the preseason OVC player of the year.
The Redbirds will try to limit Moses and the rest of the Redhawks through the efforts of starting pitchers Chris Razo (Friday), Brad Sorkin (Saturday, game one), Matt Schmitt (Saturday, game two) and Dylan Craig (Sunday).
Illinois State leads the all-time series against Southeast Missouri, 9-3-1. The four-game set starts Friday at 3 p.m.
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