NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball program is set to travel to Evanston, Ill., to take on Northwestern in a mid-week matchup Tuesday afternoon at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m. and will be able to watch on B1G+.
Tuesday afternoon's matchup marks the 25th meeting all-time between the two programs and the first meeting since April 23, 2024, in which the Wildcats captured a 7-6 victory.
The Redbirds enter the midweek contest claiming a 9-4 victory over Valparaiso to secure the series sweep over the Beacons on Sunday afternoon. With the sweep, Illinois State has claimed the last six contests over Valparaiso in the last six meetings at Duffy Bass Field.
Illinois State's offense shined in the sweep with a combined 45 hits over the weekend, including 19 hits in Saturday's 14-2 victory, over the weekend which matched a season-best total for a single game. In all three contests, the Redbirds secured a double-digit hit total and have recorded 10 or more hits in seven of their last eight games.
In Saturday's win, Junior Michael Carrano Jr. notched a career-best four hits and four RBIs to help the Redbirds move past Valparaiso. Carrano Jr. followed his career-best effort with three hits and a pair of RBIs in the series finale to close out the weekend. Carrano Jr. extended his hitting streak to nine games and stands one game shy of becoming the third Redbird to record a streak of 10 or more games this season.
Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes recorded six hits across the week with a pair of hits in each contest. In his previous six games, the Algonquin, Ill. native has tallied two or more hits and leads Illinois State with 26 multi-hit games this season.
Northwestern enters Tuesday's matchup after claiming the series victory with a 9-6 win over Indian Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats are led by third-year head coach Ben Greenspan, in 2025 Greenspan guided Northwestern to its highest win percentage since 2005 with 25 victories across the campaign. Senior outfielder Jack Lausch leads the Wildcats' offense with a .314 batting average and 12 home runs this season.
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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