MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois baseball (10-17-1, 1-3) will use a Tuesday game with Iowa (13-16, 4-5) to prepare for another Summit League weekend. Western Illinois dropped three of four against Southern Utah to open The Summit League schedule.

The Leathernecks were able to salvage the series with a 4-2 Sunday victory behind a three-RBI game from Ryan Cowhey and strong pitching from Dan Russell and Seth Fuller.

The Match Up 
Who • Western Illinois (10-17-1, 1-3) at Iowa (13-16, 4-5)

When • Tuesday, April 10 (6:35 p.m.)
Location • Iowa City, Iowa • Duane Banks Field (3,000)

 Coverage
Radio • Rocky Vision & Mobile App  (Free)
 Play-by-Play • Michael Broskowski
Live Stats  • HawkeyesSports.com (Free)

SOUTHERN UTAH RECAP: Game one with the Thunderbirds was all Leathernecks until the final innings when SUU scored nine runs in the final two innings to cruise to a 9-5 victory. Southern Utah swept Saturday's doubleheader as Kelsey Outram pitched a complete game in the first contest as SUU collected a 4-1 win. The second game of the day was a back-and-forth affair but Western's comeback attempt fell shot and SUU won 5-4. In that second game, Nick Smith struck out 13 hitters over his seven innings, which matches the third most in a game in program history. Ryan Cowhey's two-run double in the bottom of the eighth powered the Leathernecks to a game four victory, 4-2. Dan Russell and Seth Fuller were impressive and held the SUU bats in check to salvage the series.

CDB/WIU: College Baseball Daily (www.CollegeBaseballDaily.com) 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.

CATCH THE LEATHERNECKS ALL SEASON LONG VIA THE INTERNET: For the third straight year Western Illinois Baseball will be broadcast live on the internet (Rocky Vision) for free. Fans can log onto www.GoLeathernecks.com and click on the icon to Listen Live.

SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES: Head Coach Jack Dahm (Creighton, 1989) is in his ninth season (203-264) with Iowa baseball. The Big Ten member is 13-16 this season including a 4-5 mark in conference play. The Hawkeyes have collected wins over Northwestern, Indiana and Nebraska as well as two wins over South Dakota State. Phil Keppler is hitting .400 in 60 at-bats to lead the team. Mike McQuillian is hitting .356 with a team-high 37 hits. Jacob Yacinich and Chett Zeise are tied for the team lead with 14 RBI. As a team, Iowa is hitting .275 with a .362 on-base percentage and have stolen 34-of-47 bases. Jarred Hippen is 3-3 with a 4.17 ERA and a team-leading 41 strikeouts. Nick Brown has five saves this season and a 3.68 ERA. Sasha Kuebel is 2-0 with a 3.54 ERA while Matt Dermody is 1-4 with a 5.95 ERA. On Tuesday, the Leathernecks will face Andrew Hedrick who is 2-0 with a 2.95 ERA and 14 strikeouts over 18.1 innings. As a staff, the Hawkeyes carry a 4.28 ERA with 198 strikeouts in 254.1 innings.

LILJA RETURNS TO FORM: One of the offensive leaders in 2011, Tom Lilja, started the season struggling, hitting around .100 for much of the first month. Against Xavier, fans saw the old, powerful swing from Western's hard-hitting first-baseman/outfielder. During the three games with Xavier, Lilja hit .400 and slugged.600 including a two-run laser that gave Western the lead and eventually the win. Lilja has 14 career home runs, 11 of which came last season; falling one short of matching the program's high-water mark.

PITCHING POWER: The Purple & Gold continue to get solid starting pitching from Rich Mascheri, Dustin Hunter and Nick Smith. The three have combined for a 3.46 ERA over 140.2 innings on their way to six victories. The trio have struck out 143 hitters. The Xavier weekend also proved that Western has very capable arms towards the back end of the bullpen. Both Dan Russell and Seth Fuller picked up multi-inning saves to close out games. Smith carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning on Sunday against Bradley while Russell earned the win on Friday after going three scoreless innings in relief of Mascheri. Mascheri has been dealt some bad luck this season and it was the same story during his start against Southern Utah. Mascheri went 7.1 innings and did not allow an earned run and struck out nine. Smith set down 13 Thunderbirds via the strikeout over seven innings, which matches the third most in a game in program history.

LEATHERNECKS CHALLENGE UGA: Western Illinois played three close at 8th-ranked Georgia, and was able to come away with a series-finale victory... UGA took a 4-0 lead into the ninth inning of game one before Matt Igara hit his first home run of the season but that would be all the offense Western got in a 4-1 defeat. Rich Mascheri struck out five in six innings of work, allowing four runs on nine hits. Philip Tolman pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit. Austin Cowen had two of the team's four hits...Dustin Hunter fanned eight Bulldogs in seven innings of work during game two. The senior right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits, but a walk-off single in the ninth proved to be the difference in a 3-2 defeat...Dan Dispensa and Ryan Cowhey had two hits apiece and Vince Howard delivered a two-run single in the fourth inning. Both teams left eight runners on base. Howard stole two bases and Dispensa had one... In the finale,Nick Smith held Georgia to two runs through the first seven innings and the offense erupted for four runs in the second and three more in the fourth-fifth frames, eventually winning 7-4. Smith struck out seven in 7.2 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits.

STOP THIEF: Western Illinois continues to place a renewed emphasis on stolen bases, entering this weekend ranked 26th nationally with 1.64 steals per game and 48th with 46... Individually, Ryan Cowhey stands eighth averaging 0.68 steals per game (19-for-19 in 28 games) and tied for 17th with 19 steals... Cowhey's four stolen bases were the most by a Leatherneck in a game since Anthony Kaskadden swiped four at Samford last year.

OTHER NATIONAL RANKINGS: According to the most recent release, Dustin Hunter ranks 58th in hits allowed per game (4.13)... Hunter also ranks sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (12.89) and 14th in strikeouts (62).

SMITH SHUTS DOWN BULLDOGS (3/5): Freshman Nick Smith picked up his first collegiate win following a standout performance at 8th-ranked Georgia. He struck out seven Bulldogs in 7.2 innings of work... Smith was named Summit League 'Co-Pitcher of the Week' for his performance, making it three consecutive weeks to start the season a Leatherneck pitcher picked up the weekly award.

HUNTER EARNS FIRST WEEKLY AWARD (2/27): Senior right-hander Dustin Hunter was named Summit League 'Pitcher of the Week' for his performance against Alabama A&M in the Bulldog Classic, the first weekly award of his career... He struck out a career-high 12 batters, doubling his career-high from the previous week, in 7.0 innings. Hunter gave up two unearned runs on two hits and walked two. He did not allow a base hit since a leadoff single in the third, and struck out the side in both the first and seventh inning... Hunter also needed just nine pitches total to get through the fifth and sixth innings.

WESTERN SWEEPS WEEKLY AWARDS (2/20): Western swept the Summit League weekly awards the first week of the season when Dan Dispensa was named 'Player of the Week' and Rich Mascheri was selected 'Co-Pitcher of the Week'... Dispensa hit .583 last weekend (7-of-12) with three doubles, three runs scored and four RBI... Mascheri scattered four hits in 7.0 shutout innings for the Leathernecks, striking out five... It's the first weekly award since Bryan Jordan won the offensive award on March 28, 2011... Mascheri is the first Leatherneck pitcher to bring home the award since John Sneegas on March 23, 2009... It's also the first weekly sweep since March 17, 2008 (Kenny Price - Offensive; Eric Eden - Pitcher).

DOUBLE-DUTY MASCHERI: Senior Rich Mascheri has been an asset both in the field and on the mound... Mascheri owns a 1-5 record and 3.04 ERA in a team-leading 50.1 innings... he has struck out 40 and walked 17... at the plate, Mascheri has 12 runs and five RBI.

SHREDDER: Senior outfielder Ryan Cowhey continues his solid start to his final season in the Purple & Gold... in the three games at Western Kentucky, Cowhey hit .556 (5-for-9) with two runs, a double and three RBI. Cowhey, batting leadoff for the Leathernecks, is third on the team with a .421 on-base percentage and leads the team with 12 walks. Currently, Cowhey is hitting .303 with seven doubles and 11 RBI... he hit his first home run of the season on Sunday against Bradley... Cowhey delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth to propel Western to a 4-2 win over Southern Utah on Sunday.

LEATHERNECK NOTES: Dustin Hunter has 62 strikeouts in 43.2 innings and the staff overall has fanned 206 batters to 132 walks... Opponents are batting .257 against the Leathernecks... nine Leathernecks have been hit by at least two pitches this year, led by Matt Igara and Danny Marcuzzo with nine ... Cowen leads with 27 RBI... The Leathernecks have a higher on-base percentage (.354) than slugging percentage (.333)... Defensively, Reyes has also thrown out 10 base runners trying to steal... Mascheri has seven of Western's 10 pickoffs this year.

THE VILLANO FACTOR: Since head coach Mike Villano took over the Leatherneck Baseball program less than two months to the start of the 2010 season, Western has made stark improvements... His 14 wins in year one tie for the second-most victories by a first-year head coach in program history. Dick Pawlow had 15 wins in 1970 and Kim Johnson also had 14 wins in 1999... The +7 improvement to the second year was the second-biggest jump in program history (Stan Hyman +13 from 2002 to 2003)... The team ERA was now cut in half, going from 10.0+ in 2009 to last year's 5.03... Villano coached the Purple & Gold to a fourth place finish in the Summit League in 2011 and advanced to the postseason tournament for the first time since 2008.

TRIO WITH THREE HITS IN OPENER: Western wasted no time offensively in the season-opener recording seven runs on 13 hits - all singles - in the 7-5 win over Georgia State... Dan Dispensa and Austin Cowen each had three hits in the 1-2 spots of the batting order. Cowen matched his career-high... Also with three hits was freshman Jameson Henning, who also scored three runs in his first game as a Leatherneck... Danny Marcuzzo also recorded a multi-hit game with two singles and scoring twice.