Redbirds Head West for Four-Game Series at No. 9 Oregon

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NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team will make the 2,100-mile trip to Eugene, Oregon, to play a four-game series at No. 9 Oregon this weekend. The Redbirds and Ducks will open the series Thursday night at 8 p.m. CT and play one game each day through Sunday at PK Park.

Thursday and Friday's games are set for 8 p.m. starts. Saturday's game is scheduled for a first pitch at 4 p.m., while Sunday's series finale is set to begin at 2 p.m.

Illinois State (1-2) returns to action after playing its first three games of the season last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, at Belmont. The Redbirds dropped their Feb. 19 season opener, 7-5, but bounced back in a big way in a 23-5 win over the Bruins the following day. Belmont won the rubber game, however, securing a 13-10 win on Feb. 21.

The Redbirds' offensive explosion in the second game of the series marked one of the team's top offensive performances in recent history. The team's 23 runs were the most in a game since a 28-2 win at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 26, 2012, and the Redbirds' 25 hits versus Belmont were the team's most in a game since a 23-1 win over Monmouth, in which the team also collected 25 hits, on March 10, 1998.

Oregon opened the season with a three-game sweep at San Diego State, winning by scores of 8-2, 10-5 and 4-3.

Illinois State will seek its first win over a top-10 nationally-ranked opponent since defeating then-No. 5 Arkansas on Feb. 24, 2007.

The Redbirds will look to the starting quartet of Jeffrey Barton, Jacob Hendren, Steve Heilenbach and David Meade this weekend. All four saw game action at Belmont, as Hendren, Heilenbach and Meade served as the team's three starters. Heilenbach fared the best, pitching five innings of one-hit, shutout baseball in the 23-5 win on Feb. 20.

Oregon will counter with four left-handers: Kyle Robeniol, Cole Irvin, Matt Krook and David Peterson. Krook is on the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list.

Links for live video, audio and stats for all four games are available at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also receive live updates by following @RedbirdBaseball on Twitter. 

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