MACOMB, Ill. – With sights still firmly fixed on the Summit League Tournament the Leathernecks turn its attention towards in-state opponent Illinois State (31-16, 10-8) for a midweek battle. Western Illinois (20-32, 12-12) is currently in fourth place and sit a half-game behind North Dakota State with the Bison representing the last regular season action this year for The Purple Army. The Purple & Gold's momentum was slowed by a series split with Centenary College this past weekend. Three wins in Fargo, N.D. this weekend should be enough to clinch a birth in the conference tournament.
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The Redbirds and Leathernecks will square off on Tuesday to conclude the home season at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. Illinois State is coming off a series victory over Southern Illinois including an extra-inning victory in game two of the series.
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The Match Up
Who:Â Western Illinois vs. Illinois State
When:Â Tuesday, May 17 (3:30 p.m. CST)
Location: Macomb, Ill. • Alfred D. Boyer Stadium (502)
 Coverage
Radio  • Rocky Vision  (free) Flagship Station
 Play-by-Play: Michael Broskowski
Live Stats • GoLeathernecks.com (free)
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS: Head coach Mark Kingston is in his second season at the helm and has collected two 30-win seasons... last season Illinois State finished tied for first in the Missouri Valley with a 15-6 record... the longest winning streak of the season for ISU is six games while its longest losing streak is three games... this season the redbirds are 12-7 at home, 12-8 on the road and 7-1 at neutral sites... as a team ISU is hitting .278 with 37 home runs... Tyler McNeely is hitting .353 with 11 home runs and 41 RBI and his .628 slugging-percentage is the best on the team... Ryan Court is second on the team with a .339 average and has a team high 99 total bases including 15 doubles... Kevin Tokarski is the third and final Redbird hitter over .300 with a .302 average... Zach Amrein is hitting just .244 but has eight home runs on the season and a team-high 42 RBI... the staff's ERA is 3.26 and just one Redbird pitcher has an ERA over 4.00... Joe Claver is expected to take the hill for the Redbirds and will enter with a 2.38 ERA in 10 appearances this season... Claver has made just one start prior and has 16 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.
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 current season for Western with various viewpoints from the players and staff.
LAST FIVE GAMES: Western Illinois is hitting .306 in the last five games (3-2)... the Leathernecks have scored 26 runs including 21 RBI during that time... Austin Cowen and Anthony Kaskadden both hit .471 while Kaskadden collected a .824 slugging-percentage and led the team with 14 total bases... Ryan Wachholder went 2-0 with 0.60 ERA in the last five contests... the team ERA was 2.41 and opponents hit just .236 off of Leathernecks pitchers.
TOURNEY WATCH: Western Illinois is currently in sole possession of the fourth place spot in the Summit League with a 12-12 league record and is a half-game behind Western's next Summit League opponent North Dakota State... the top four programs will have the opportunity to travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. and continue its season... the last time the Purple & Gold played in the postseason was 2008 where the Leathernecks went 1-2 with a victory over Southern Utah and an extra-inning loss to Oral Roberts... Western had made the tournament every year from 2000 through 2008.
TUESDAY BRUNCH: Every Leatherneck with at least 50 at-bats has hit a home run this season... Chris Giglio and Dan Dispensa joined the club during the IPFW weekend as they both homered during the opening game of the series... Giglio in the sixth and Dispensa in the eighth... currently 10 members of the Leatherneck squad are part of the "Tuesday Brunch" where the homers are discussed... the Purple Army lead the Summit League with 32 home runs.
STERLING PERFORMANCES: Zach Sterling has been impressive this season for the Purple Army... the junior has five quality starts in his nine starts this season... he has the fourth best ERA in the league at 3.32... opponents have not been able to figure the Lima, Ohio native out as they are hitting just .231 against him to lead the league in opponents batting average... he has the fifth most strikeouts despite only making nine starts this season... Sterling went 8.0 innings against Oakland and record nine punch-outs in the winning effort... set down 13 Mastodons in his last start and Leatherneck has not recorded double-digit K's since 2009 when Mark Dibernardo (10) did it against North Dakota State on May 12.
APRIL SHOWERS: The month of April woke up the Leatherneck offense... the team hit .282 in the fourth month of the year and scored 142 runs as opposed to 128 runs scored by the opponents... Danny Marcuzzo hit .333 with four home runs and 14 RBI... Tom Lilja led the way with 20 RBI and five home runs... the Leathernecks collected 18 home runs in the month and finished the month with 300 total bases... the offense helped the team collect 10 wins... Zach Sterling was unbeaten (4-0) in the month and had a 3.21 ERA.
SHUTOUT: The Purple & Gold collected its second shutout of the season on April 23 at Oakland as Zach Sterling held the Golden Grizzlies scoreless and Chris Fuchs tossed the final inning to secure the victory... The other occurred when Western Illinois blanked eastern Illinois on Tuesday, 4-0... the last time the Leathernecks had previously recorded a shutout prior this season was on March 14, 2009 against Medaille College.
SHREDDER:Â Ryan Cowhey was a force during the Southern Utah series... the junior outfielder and designated hitter hit two home runs and collected 10 total bases... finished the series with .571 and a 1.429 slugging percentage.
WINNING WAYS: After winning its first series of the season over Southern Utah, the Leathernecks took the series with IPFW for its second straight three-win series... the streak came to an end this weekend with a series split with Centenary... Western Illinois is now 12-12 in league play and have 20 wins overall... the last time Western had 20 victories was in 2008, which was also the last time that the Purple & Gold had double-digit Summit League victories.
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 Oakland and 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 69 hits (2nd in Summit League) on the season which leads the team with a .324 average... had an 11-game hitting streak earlier this season... has collected 25 multi-hit games... he has collected 94 total bases so far... named Summit League Male Athlete of month for March.
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.
POWER SURGE: Western Illinois has hit 32 home runs this season... three Leathernecks are in the top 10 in the Summit League... Tom Lilja leads the way with 10; Danny Marcuzzo and Ryan Cowhey each have five.
