MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois baseball (20-33, 12-12) will travel to Fargo, N.D. for a series with North Dakota State (18-29, 12-11) which will seal the Leathernecks' fate as a tournament hopeful. South Dakota State and Oral Roberts have already clinched a playoff berth with identical 17-7 league marks. The final two spots of The Summit League Baseball Championship presented by American Airlines are there for the taking between the Purple & Gold, IPFW, Southern Utah and/or Centenary. A series victory over the Bison for Western will put the Leathernecks into the postseason for the first time since 2008.

The Leathernecks remain at .500 after a series split with Centenary over the weekend and fell to Illinois State, 9-4, in their final regular season game on Tuesday to close out the 2011 Alfred D. Boyer Stadium season.

In its last Summit League action, NDSU was only able to take one game from IPFW, and dropped a midweek contest with the Gophers of Minnesota on Tuesday, 8-5.

The Match Up
Who:  Western Illinois at North Dakota State
When:  Thursday, May 19 (6:30 p.m. CST) • Friday, May 20 (1 p.m. CST & 4 p.m. CST) • Saturday, May 21 (1 p.m. CST)
Location: Fargo, N.D. • Newman Outdoor Field (4,422)

 Coverage

Radio  • Rocky Vision   (free) Flagship Station
 Play-by-Play: Michael Broskowski
Live Stats  • GoBison.com (free)

SCOUTING THE BISON: North Dakota State will enter the final Summit League weekend with a 12-11 mark in league play and an 18-29 overall record... the third place Bison stand a half-game up on the Leathernecks as both teams hope to secure the final two spot in the playoffs... NDSU lost a game due to weather in the Centenary series... head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) has a 53-88 record in his three season at the helm... the Bison are hitting .284 as a squad including a .281 clip in league play... Blake Turbak is hitting .341 with 44 hits this season, 42 of them being singles... Tim Colwell currently carries a .329 average and a .337 clip in Summit action... Wes Satzinger leads NDSU with 31 RBI... Zach Wentz has team-high five home runs and was also named Summit League Player of the Week on March 7... as a team they are 32 of 45 in stolen base attempts this season... the staff's ERA is 5.63 with opponents hitting .289 off of Bison pitchers... Colby Tognetti is 3-5 with a 3.11 ERA in his 63.2 innings pitched... Luke Anderson and Mark Hermes both have two victories on the season and both have ERAs over five... Wentz is the NDSU's fourth starter and is 2-6 in his nine starts this season... the four have combined for four complete games... Jason Mattila has six saves on the season and a 3.54 ERA to go with his 3-3 record.

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 Leatherneck 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 .275 in the last five games (2-3) with a .350 slugging percentage and a .394 on-base percentage... the Leathernecks drove in 22 RBI...  Austin Cowen is hitting .389 while Anthony Kaskadden and Tom Lilja are hitting .368... Kaskadden leads the team with five RBI and 12 total bases with a .632 slugging percentage... the Leathernecks collected 56 total bases during the last five games... Travis Pedersen has made two appearances with a 0.00 ERA and a save... the staff's is 3.98 and opponents are hitting .229 off of Leatherneck hurlers.

TOURNEY WATCH: Western Illinois is currently in sole possession of the fourth place spot in the Summit League with a 12-12 league record... the top four programs will have the opportunity to travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. and continue its season... Western's magic number is three games or any combination of results that would keep the Leathernecks in fourth... IPFW travel to Brookings, S.D. to face South Dakota State and Southern Utah will be in Tulsa, Okla. for four games with Oral Roberts... Western holds the head-to-head tiebreakers with both of those programs... in order for Western to miss the tournament, the Leathernecks would have to drop three of four in Fargo while either IPFW or Southern Utah win their series to pass the Leathernecks in the standings...  the last time the Purple & Gold played in the postseason was 2008 when 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 as they both homered at IPFW 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 are second in 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.

WAKA FLOCKA: Junior pitcher Ryan Wachholder  has been very sharp in his last two starts... the current Papa John's Scholar Athlete of the Week has combined for 12 strikeouts in his last 15.0 innings while allowing just one earned run... the right-hander has seen his ERA drop to 4.62.

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... Western Illinois is now 12-12 in league play and has 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.

SHREDDER: 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.

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 70 hits (2nd in Summit League) on the season which leads the team with a .321 average... had an 11-game hitting streak...  collected 25 multi-hit games... he has collected 95 total bases so far... named Summit League Male Athlete of the 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 sixth and 23 points... Centenary and IPFW round out the eight-team poll with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

CLIMBING THE SUMMIT: Several Leathernecks are atop or near the top of the Summit League in various statistical categories... Matt Igara is second in hits (65), third in doubles (17), sixth in total bases (94) and sixth in runs scored (40)... Tom Lilja is second in home runs (11), fifth in runs scored (41), ninth in hits (60), fifth in RBI (41) and fourth in total bases (101)... John Koszulinski is third in on-base percentage (.463) and second in walks (34)... Austin Cowen is sixth in doubles (13) and first in sacrifice bunts (14)... Dan Dispensa is fourth in walks (30)... Chris Giglio is tied with Cowen for first in sacrifice bunts (14)... Anthony Kaskadden is fifth in stolen bases (14) and third in triples (3).

BY THE NUMBERS: The Leathernecks are currently ranked sixth in The Summit League in team batting average (.276)... fourth in slugging percentage (.390) and fourth in on-base percentage (.376)... Western Illinois is in third in runs scored (302), third in hits (493), third in RBI (265), fourth in doubles (86), third in triples (10), second in home runs (32), third in total bases (695), and first in sacrifice hits (53).

EXTRA BASES: Western Illinois hitters have combined for 139 multiple-hit games this season... Matt Igara has 25 games with two or more hits while Austin Cowen (17), Dan Dispensa (16), Tom Lilja (14), Bryan Jordan (16), Ryan Cowhey (9), Danny Marcuzzo (8), John Koszulinski (16) and Chris Giglio (6) each have recorded one or more multi-hit games... Igara has collected six three-hit games on the season while Lilja (4), Cowen (3), Dispensa (4), Cowhey (1), Giglio (3), Koszulinski (3), Jordan (2), Marcuzzo (1), Kaskadden (2), Baratono (1) have all recorded three-hit games... the team has also combined for 62 multi-RBI games from individual players... Tom Lilja has recorded eight multi-RBI games including one four-RBI performance... Austin Cowen has collected 11 similar games... John Koszulinski has a five-RBI game as well... five players have had hitting streaks of 10 or more games this season... Lilja had a 13-game hitting streak... Marcuzzo had a 12-game hitting streak... Igara had an 11-game streak... Dispensa and Cowen both had 10-game streaks previously this season... Cowen has the longest current streak at six games.