NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State baseball team will look to build off its series wins at Bradley and Southern Illinois as the Redbirds are scheduled to take on Evansville at Duffy Bass Field in a weekend series over May 5-7.
SCHEDULE (AT ILLINOIS STATE)
Friday at 5:00 p.m. CT | VIDEO | LIVE STATS
Saturday at 3:00 p.m. CT | RADIO | LIVE STATS
Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CT | RADIO| LIVE STATS
ILLINOIS STATE PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: RHP Cameron Mabee (4.18 ERA in 47.1 IP with 28 K over 12 appearances with six starts)
Saturday: RHP Jayson Hibbard (5.36 ERA in 47 IP with 26 K over 13 appearances with seven starts)
Sunday: RHP Derek Salata (4.50 ERA in 54 IP with 69 K over 10 starts)
ABOUT THE EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
Evansville was 32-24 in 2022, going 13-13 on the road. The Purple Aces are 26-18 in 2023. Evansville is 12-10 on the road. The only common non-conference opponent for the two schools is SIUE.
The Redbirds and Purple Aces have met 128 times previously, with Illinois State leading, 70-57-1. Their first meeting was in 1948.
Illinois State allowed just 14 runs and was outscored by just four runs but found itself on the wrong side of the decision in all three games in Evansville in 2022. ISU blew a 4-0 lead in the 9th inning to get walked-off and was also walked-off in the Sunday game.
LOSS AT IOWA
ISU trailed 5-4 after 4 1/2 innings in Iowa City but was unable to beat Iowa for the fifth-straight time.
Third-year junior Auggie Rasmussen and freshman Shai Robinson each reached base three times as Rasmussen had three singles and Robinson had a walk and two doubles.
NEW-LOOK LINEUP
Illinois State unveiled its 35th unique lineup of the 2023 campaign on Tuesday at Iowa, featuring the third-year junior Luke Cheng making his return from injury (first start since April 8), second-year freshman Luke Lawrence starting in the OF for the first time (RF), third-year sophomore Tyler Woltman making his first start of the season.
SERIES WIN AT SIU
Although ISU was run-ruled in the opening game and trailing after six innings on both Saturday and Sunday, ISU rallied to win the series at SIU.
Third-year junior Elijah Dale stranded runners on second and third in Saturday's game while the Redbirds scored in the 10th, 11th , and 12th innings in Sunday's game to win.
Third-year junior Luke Cheng and second-year sophomore Noah Rabin each hit their first career HR while freshman Daniel Pacella hit his 13th.
WIN VS NIU
Despite having only thrown a third of an inning with a 54.00 ERA entering the game, fourth-year sophomore Zach Holcomb threw four scoreless innings in relief, striking out six and allowing a bloop single and HBP.
Freshman Daniel Pacella hit his 12th HR of the year while freshman Shai Robinson reached base four times and fourth-year junior Shaydon Kubo had three hits.
WIN VS LINDENWOOD
Third-year junior Auggie Rasmussen hit two home runs, freshman Shai Robinson had four hits, and freshman Daniel Pacella had three hits to lead Illinois State to the win in the first meeting between the programs.
STEWART RETURN TO MLB
Redbird baseball alum Brock Stewart was called up on April 25 for the Minnesota Twins - he had last pitched in the MLB with Toronto on 9/24/19 but completed the road back to Big Leagues after Tommy John surgery. Stewart threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts on April 27 against Kansas City.
HEADRICK MLB DEBUT
Redbird baseball alum Brent Headrick was called up on April 16 for the Minnesota Twins and made his MLB debut on Wednesday at Boston. Headrick was perfect in his first two innings in relief, highlighted by a strikeout of Silver Slugger Rafael Devers, and ultimately completed three innings to record the save in his first Big League appearance. Headrick also threw five innings on April 26 with eight strikeouts against the Yankees, including one against Aaron Judge.
LINDGREN MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT
Redbird baseball alum Jeff Lindgren was called up on April 3 for the Miami Marlins and made his MLB debut in relief against the Minnesota Twins. The Champaign, Ill. native threw five innings, allowing four runs. Lindgren's final two innings were scoreless.
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