NORMAL, Ill. – Three days after hosting its first home game of the 2017 season, the Illinois State baseball team will begin Missouri Valley Conference play as it heads to MVC defending champion and preseason favorite Dallas Baptist for a three-game series.
The series at DBU's Horner Ballpark begins with Friday's 6:30 p.m. opener. The second and third games in the series are scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Illinois State (7-15) returns to action after earning a 2-1 victory over visiting Saint Louis in the Redbirds' home opener Tuesday at Duffy Bass Field. Nick Zouras delivered a tie-breaking RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Redbirds, while the pitching quartet of Jeffrey Barton, Jack Landwehr, Trevor Cross and Mitch Vogrin limited the Billikens to just a single run. With two scoreless innings to finish the game, Vogrin picked up his team-leading third win of the season.
Dallas Baptist (15-9) earned a 12-7 midweek victory over UT Arlington on Tuesday at Horner Ballpark, after dropping two of three games last weekend at North Florida.
This weekend's Valley contests will be the first of the season for both teams. Dallas Baptist owns a 9-1 edge in the all-time series with Illinois State, dating back to 2014. The Patriots won two regular-season games and an MVC Tournament opening-round contest versus the Redbirds in 2016.
Illinois State will utilize the starting pitching rotation of left-hander Matt Walker (0-0, 7.50 ERA), right-hander Brady Huffman (1-1, 4.50) and lefty Brent Headrick (0-2, 5.59). DBU will go with right-hander Ray Gaither (4-1, 1.82), and lefties Coby Weaver (0-1, 6.41) and Jordan Martinson (3-2, 6.18).
Links for live video and stats are available for all three games at GoRedbirds.com, and fans can follow @RedbirdBaseball on Twitter for live updates and more.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
