NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, for a three-game series with 2014 College World Series champion Vanderbilt, beginning Friday. Vanderbilt is currently ranked as the No. 1 team in the country by three of the five major national polls.
The Redbirds (4-2) enter the series with the Commodores following a three-game sweep of Southeast Missouri State, in a series played in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Vanderbilt (6-2) took two of three games against Indiana State over the weekend in Port Charlotte, Florida.
"As much as we respected Arkansas State and Southeast Missouri State, the Vanderbilt series has been on our mind since the fall," said Illinois State head coach Bo Durkac. "It's not often that you get a chance to play a team that is both the defending national champion and the current No. 1-ranked team in country. This weekend will be the test of all tests for our team."
After winning one of three games at Arkansas State, Feb. 13-14, the Redbirds won three straight against SEMO last weekend. The series sweep featured a come-from-behind, 7-3 win in the opener, as the Redbirds tied the game with an eighth-inning, three-run home run by Jean Ramirez, and won it with a ninth-inning grand slam from Logan Leverett. ISU won the second game of the series, 8-3, before staving off a late comeback bid by SEMO in the final game, as Leverett threw out a potential game-tying run from right field to end the game.
Leverett was recognized on Monday as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week.
Vanderbilt won the first and third games of a three-game set with Indiana State last weekend. The Commodores also won two of three games over Santa Clara, Feb. 13-14.
Vanderbilt holds a 7-4 edge in the all-time series against Illinois State, which dates back to 1937. The Redbirds lost a pair of games to Vanderbilt in NCAA Regional play in 2010, in the last meeting between the two schools.
The Redbirds will look to starting pitchers Will Headean, Jacob Hendren and Jack Landwehr this weekend. Vanderbilt will turn to the trio of Carson Fulmer, John Kilichowski and Kyle Wright.
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