NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State Redbirds will face off against two Ohio Valley Conference opponents during the mid-week in the middle of April, hosting SIUE on Tuesday, and traveling to play at Eastern Illinois on Wednesday afternoon.
vs. SIUE | Tuesday, April 17 | 4:30 p.m.
Live Video: ESPN3
Live Audio: WZND
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Illinois State Starting Pitcher: Jacob Gilmore, LHP, 0-0, 13.50 ERA
SIUE Starting Pitcher: Collin Baumgartner, RHP, 0-1, 9.69 ERA
at Eastern Illinois | Wednesday, April 18 | 3 p.m.
Live Video: None
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: Eastern Illinois Sidearm Live Stats
Illinois State Starting Pitcher: Jack Spicer, RHP, 1-0, 3.00 ERA
Eastern Illinois Starting Pitcher: TBA
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
SIUE has lost each of its last seven games in the month of April, including all three in a series at home against Morehead State. In the series against the Eagles, SIUE was out-scored 46-15, including 25-3 in the opener.
Leading the players who have played in at least 10 games is Jared McCunn, who is hitting .286 with 18 runs scored and 15 RBI's. Brock Weimer leads the team with 23 RBI's and five home runs. Weimer Eric Giltz, and Aaron Goecks each are tied for the team lead with nine doubles, while Garrett Carmichael and Peyton Cordova-Smith each have a pair of triples.
The pitching staff is led by Kenny Serwa, who is 2-3 in nine starts. He has pitched a team-high 49.2 innings on the season, and leads the team with 35 strikeouts against just nine walks. He and Mason McReaken each have two pitching wins, while McReaken also leads the team with three saves.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Eastern Illinois has won two of its three-game series against Belmont, improving to 4-11 in OVC play.
For the season, the team is led by Ryan Knernschield, who is batting .344 over 61 at-bats, while Dougie Parks leads the team with 24 runs scored, 13 doubles, eight home runs, and also has 27 RBI's. Josh Turnock (.328) and Parks (.300) each bat at or over .300 on the season. Hunter Morris has driven in a team-best 29 runs, while Joseph Duncan has swiped a team-best eight bases.
Michael Starcevich has been the star of the pitching staff, pitching 30.1 innings out of the bullpen, as he leads the team with 41 strikeouts and six saves in 15 games pitched this season. Alex Stevenson has struck out 33 batters and has a 2-5 record in nine starts with a 5.95 ERA, as Tyler Jones has a 4-2 record and a 2.21 ERA in seven starts, to go with 26 strikeouts.
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS
Illinois State comes into the mid-week pair of games after taking a three-game series from Indiana State for the first time since the 2014 season.
Offensively the squad has a team batting average of .281, which ranks 75th in the country. Owen Miller leads the team with a .362 batting average while also scoring 30 times. John Rave bats .359 with a team-high-tying five home runs and 30 RBI's. Collin Braithwaite has the co-lead in RBI's, while also batting .317 and scoring 25 runs. Seven different Redbird batters have scored at least 20 runs, while five players have driven in at least 20 runs, and nine that have chased home at least 10.
The pitching staff is led by the team's trio of starters in Matt Walker (4-0, 3.68 ERA, 36 strikeouts), Brady Huffman (1-3, 4.15 ERA, 46 strikeouts), and Brent Headrick (1-5, 6.85 ERA, 36 strikeouts). Trevor Cross leads the team's bullpen with 29 strikeouts in 20.2 innings of work, while Colton Johnson has 19 strikeouts in 29 innings.
