MACOMB, Ill. – The Summit League schedule will get underway this weekend in Macomb, Ill. at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium as the Jackrabbits will visit for a four-game series. Western Illinois ended last season with a 15-14 victory over the SDSU.
The Jackrabbits are on an eight game-winning streak as it opens Summit League play. Be sure to listen to every game of the series on Rocky Vision and Sunday's game will be streamed online as well.
The Match Up
Who: Western Illinois vs. South Dakota State
When: Friday, April 8 (3:30 p.m.) • Saturday, April 9 (12 p.m. & 3:30 p.m.) • Sunday, April 10 (12 p.m.)
Location: Macomb, Ill.
Coverage
Radio • Rocky Vision (free) Flagship Station
Streaming • Available on Sunday only
Play-by-Play • Cameron Weidenthaler and Michael Broskowski
Live Stats • GoLeathernecks.com (free)
SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS: SDSU will come into the weekend series as the top team in the league and riding an eight game-winning streak, which includes sweeps of Northern Colorado and Iowa... the Jackrabbits are 11-9 and are led by Ritchie Price (Kansas, 2006)... Price is in his third season as the Jacks' skipper and has a 65-51 career record... SDSU took the regular season Summit League title after going 17-10 in league play... as a team the Jacks are hitting .295 with a .418 slugging percentage... Beau Hanowski leads the team with his .387 average... Zach Rhodes gas driven in 19 runs this season and is hitting .377... Jesse Sawyer has five home runs on the season and 13 RBI... Blake Treinen is 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA with 33 K's... Kolton Emery has a 3-1 record and a 3.56 ERA and has thrown a complete game... Stephen Bougher has a 3-2 record and a 3.69 ERA to go along with his two complete games, one of which was a shutout... Alex Oberle is 2-3 with 5.93 ERA and has also tossed a complete game... the staff currently has a 4.11 ERA and opponents are hitting .286 against SDSU.
CDB/WIU: College Baseball Daily has teamed up with the Western Illinois baseball team and will feature a weekly journal with an entry from a Leathernecks player or coach. The site is a great source for college baseball news around the nation and will spotlight the upcoming season for Western with various viewpoints from the players and staff.
LAST FIVE GAMES: Western Illinois is hitting .302 and has scored 40 runs over the last five games which saw the Purple & Gold go 3-2... Matt Igara is hitting .350... tom Lilja has seven RBI and slugging .619...the Leathernecks are also 9-11 in stolen base attempts in that time period... John Koszulinski continues his upswing as he is hitting .438... Ryan Cowhey is slugging .611 with 11 total bases... the staff has a 2.20 ERA over the past five games.
FAMILIAR FACES: Several players knew each other prior to arriving on campus... coming from the College of Lake County are: Anthony Kaskadden and Travis Pedersen... Bryan Jordan and Beau Below were teammates at Black Hawk College...Matt Igara, Steve Kedroski, Ryan Wachholder and Alexander Zarate all joined the Leathernecks this season after spending time at Heartland C.C... John Koszulinski, Chris Giglio, Chris Macek and Tom Lilja were high school teammates at Lincoln-Way East.
OUCH: Western Illinois leads The Summit League in hit by pitches with 49... Next best is Southern Utah with 27... John Koszulinski has been hit 10 times while Matt Igara has been plunked on eight occasions... Sunday's game with Bradley had 11 hit by pitches between the two teams... The Leathernecks were hit six times on Sunday at Bradley.
DISPENSA HEALTHY: The Leathernecks' outfield will receive a boost as OF Dan Dispensa returns after missing the last 12 games of 2010 with an injury to his wrist... He has also turned all of his attention to baseball after participating in football and baseball at Western in 2009-10... Dispensa leads the team and Summit League in walks with 19... the sophomore is hitting .319 and had a 10-game hitting streak earlier this season... Dispensa also leads the team in OBP at .446.
SHUTOUT: Western Illinois blanked eastern Illinois on Tuesday, 4-0... the last time the Leathernecks had previously recorded a shutout was on March 14, 2009 against Medaille College.
STARTER NOTES: Matt Igara and Austin Cowen have started all 26 games this season for the Leathernecks... John Koszulinski and Tom Lilja have appeared in every game.
MONEYBALL: Matt Igara is at .941 in OPS (On-Base + Slugging)... Igara also has a 25.03 in the runs created category... Tom Lilja is currently at .843 in OPS... Bryan Jordan is at .803.
TOTAL BASES WATCH: Matt Igara leads the team and is second in Summit League in total bases with 54... Tom Lilja is third with 50 total bases while Ryan Cowhey is eighth with 37.
SOS: The Leathernecks strength of schedule is currently at 32 according to Boyd's World... The team's best win of the season came over Georgia State... the Panthers had an RPI of 79 and are currently 23-8.
FIGHTING LEATHERNECKS ON THE AIR: Western Illinois baseball games can be heard live on the Internet (www.GoLeathernecks.com) via the Leatherneck Sports Network by clicking on the link for each game on the baseball schedule/results page... radio broadcasts for the games at Southern Utah will not take place due to no phone lines at those facilities. If any other games are not going to be broadcast, GoLeathernecks.com will have that information.
ANOTHER NEWCOMER: Center fielder Matt Igara joined the Leathernecks after a very successful stint at Heartland C.C... Igara has not missed a beat since joining the Division I ranks... he has 38 hits on the season and a .352 average... has hit safely in 19 of the first 26 games this season and had an 11-game hitting streak... has collected 15 multi-hit games... leads the way with a .500 slugging percentage.
LEATHERNECKS PICKED FIFTH IN PRESEASON POLL: Western Illinois was picked fifth by the Summit League coaches in the preseason poll... Oral Roberts was picked as the favorite to take home the league title with 49 overall points and seven first-place votes... SDSU received 43 points and a single first-place vote... finishing just three points ahead of the Leathernecks were Oakland and Southern Utah in a tie for third with 27 points... NDSU finished right behind Western in 6th and 23 points... Centenary and IPFW round out the eight-team poll with 17 and 14 points, respectively.
LAST CHANCE: The Leathernecks have scored 21 runs in the eighth inning and 20 in the ninth inning this season... Western Illinois scored five runs in the ninth against Georgia State to extend the game into extra innings... opponents have scored 24 runs in the first inning this season.
EXTRA! EXTRA!: Western Illinois has played two extra-inning games so far this season... that already matches or better the previous three seasons... in 2008 Western played one into extras and that was in the Summit League Tournament... 2009 offered two extra-inning affairs and 2010 also delivered two games with free baseball.
QUALITY STARTS: Dan Russell has delivered four quality starts this season... he went 6.0 innings and one earned run in the victory over Georgia State... Russell also tossed 7.0 strong innings against Kansas State but allowed four earned runs... Russell's third quality start came at Indiana State where he went 7.0 innings and only allowed one run in victory... Russell was on his way to another strong start at Missouri State before it was suspended due to rain...he had struck out seven hitters in five innings... Russell put together the best start of the season so far at Iowa as he picked up the victory with 8.1 innings where he did not allow a walk and struck out six opponents...most recently Russell went 6.2 at Bradley while allowing two earned runs... Zach Sterling collected his first quality start at Missouri State with 6.0 IP and three earned runs in the win... Sterling was also impressive in his start at Bradley going 6.0 innings and allowing no earned runs... Ryan Wachholder also tossed a quality start at Kansas State as he went 6.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs... Alexander Zarate is the latest Leatherneck to impress as he collected a quality start (6 IP, 0 ER) at Eastern Illinois.
1-2 PUNCH: The top of the Leatherneck rotation continues to be anchored down by Dan Russell and Zach Sterling... The two have combined for six quality starts and five consecutive starts with at least 6 IP and fewer than 3 earned runs... Russell is 3-2 with a 3.13 ERA and 37 K's... Sterling is 2-2 and has a 2.37 ERA.
BY THE NUMBERS: The Leathernecks are currently ranked third in The Summit League in team batting average (.268)... second in slugging percentage (.369) and first in on-base percentage (.371)... Western Illinois is tied for first in runs scored (132), first in hits (240), second in RBI (114), first in doubles (50), first in home runs (12), first in total bases (330), first in walks (101), first in sacrifice bunts (24) and second in stolen bases (37)... Matt Igara is leading the Summit League in hits (38) while ranking fifth in on-base percentage (.441)... Dan Dispensa is fourth in on base percentage with a .446 OBP and also leads the Summit League with 19 walks... Western Illinois has two players with a batting average of .300 or better while five players have posted 10 or more RBI... as a team the Leathernecks have a .371 on base percentage.
EXTRA BASES: Western Illinois hitters have combined for 65 multiple-hit games this season... Matt Igara has 15 games with two or more hits while Austin Cowen (6), Dan Dispensa (8), Tom Lilja (6), Bryan Jordan (8), Ryan Cowhey (5), Danny Marcuzzo (4), John Koszulinski (6) and Chris Giglio (2) each have recorded one or more multi-hit games... Dispensa is the only Leatherneck to have recorded four hits this season... Igara has collected four three-hit games on the season while Lilja (2), Cowen (1), Dispensa (1), Cowhey (1) and Giglio (2) have all recorded three hit games... the team has also combined for 25 multi-RBI games from individual players... Tom Lilja has recorded five multi-RBI games including one four-RBI performance... Austin Cowen and Matt Igara both have three multi-RBI games... John Koszulinski has a five-RBI game as well... four players have had hitting streaks of 10 or more games this season... Lilja had a 13-game hitting streak... Igara had an 11-game streak... Dispensa and Cowen both had 10-game streaks previously this season... Lilja has the longest current streak with five games.
