NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball program is ready to hit the road to take on Southern Illinois in a three-game series set to begin Friday, April 3, from Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Ill. All three contests will be available to watch on ESPN+.
The Redbirds head south following a 4-1 mid-week victory over Illinois on Tuesday evening at Duffy Bass Field. The win marked the first time in the all-time series that Illinois State has secured back-to-back victories since 2019 and 2022.
Redshirt Sophomore Carson Cormier impressed on the mound with his second consecutive appearance with five or more innings pitched and at least five strikeouts. In the victory, Cormier limited the Fighting Illini to two hits and no runs, each marking the fewest this season from the Westford, Mass. native.
Junior Graham Mastros tallied a pair of RBIs in the contest to record his Missouri Valley Conference-best 32nd RBI of the campaign. Junior Luke Stulga had two RBIs on a triple in the sixth inning of Tuesday's victory. Stulga leads all Redbirds and sits tied for the league-best with four triples this season.
The Salukis enter the weekend set following a 3-1 mid-week defeat against Lindenwood on Tuesday evening. Southern Illinois is led by seventh-year head coach Lance Rhodes, who surpassed 200 victories in his tenure in Carbondale, Ill., earlier this season. Redshirt Senior infielder Tim Simay leads the Saluki offense with a .327 batting average and 32 hits this season.
PROJECTED STARTERS
Game One - Friday, April 3, 6 p.m.
Senior Thomas Harper is set to make his eighth start of the season in the series-opening contest on Friday. In his last outing, Harper limited Evansville to two runs and matched a career-high with eight strikeouts.
Game Two - Saturday, April 4, 7 p.m.
Junior Michael Addari enters Saturday's start following his career-longest outing with 6.0 innings pitched against Evansville on March 28. In his last three starts, Addari hasn't allowed an earned run and currently ranks fourth in the nation with a 0.84 ERA.
Game Three - Sunday, April 5, 3 p.m. - TBD
For the latest updates on Illinois State Baseball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com, follow the Redbirds on X (formerly Twitter) (@RedbirdBaseball), and Instagram (isuredbirdbaseball), and like the team on Facebook (Illinois State Baseball).
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