NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team will travel to Arkansas State this weekend for a season-opening four-game series in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
The Redbirds will open the 2015 season with a 6 p.m. contest Friday at Kell Field. The teams will then square off in a doubleheader, beginning at 2 p.m., on Saturday, before finishing out the series with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday afternoon.
"Regardless of age, regardless of level of play, Opening Day is perhaps the most exciting day of the year for a baseball player. We have been competing amongst ourselves for the last six months, so we are excited to take on some outside competition. Arkansas State will be a great test for us as we begin the 2015 season."
Illinois State enters the 2015 season after compiling a 33-22 record a year ago. The 2014 campaign marked the fifth-consecutive season the team won more 30 or more games. The Redbirds advanced to the title game of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship for the second year in a row, before falling to eventual MVC champion Dallas Baptist, 4-1.
A program-record six Redbirds were selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June, including infielder Paul DeJong, who opted to return to Illinois State for his redshirt-junior season. DeJong led the Redbirds in nearly every offensive statistical category in 2014, and was named a Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American and a MVC Preseason All-Conference Team selection ahead of the 2015 season.
Also returning for the Redbirds this spring are a pair of 2014 All-MVC Honorable Mention selections in senior infielder Dennis Colon and junior outfielder Daniel Dwyer, as well as 2014 MVC All-Tournament Team picks in senior infielder Mason Snyder and senior outfielder Logan Leverett. Dwyer was also an MVC All-Tournament Team selection last year.
Arkansas State, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, posted a 2014 record of 32-27. The Red Wolves were 20-11 at home, but lost three of four to the Redbirds, Feb. 21-23 last year. Arkansas State was pegged for a third-place finish in the Sun Belt in a preseason poll of league coaches, while junior pitcher David Owen and junior first baseman Matt Burgess were named to the preseason all-conference team.
The Redbirds will play three-game series at Southeast Missouri State (Feb. 20-22) and 2014 College World Series champion Vanderbilt (Feb. 27-March 1), on consecutive weekends following the four-game set at Arkansas State. Illinois State will then play eight games over 10 days in Florida (March 6-15), before returning to Duffy Bass Field for its home opener March 18 against Illinois-Chicago.
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