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Baseball Travels to Evansville for Weekend Series

MACOMB, Ill. - Fighting Leatherneck baseball continues its nonconference road swing this weekend in Evansville, Ind. with four games against the Purple Aces. Leatherneck head coach Ryan Brownlee was a four-year starter for Evansville and returns to his alma mater for the first time as a head coach.


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CARMEL INN SHOWDOWN: Last weekend the Leathernecks competed in the Carmel Inn Showdown, hosted by Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. Western battled Louisiana-Monroe, Nicholls and Southern Illinois during the three-day tourney. On Thursday (Feb. 20) the Purple & Gold opened tournament play with a doubleheader against ULM and Nicholls. ULM came out on top, 6-2, in the opening game. The Warhawks held WIU hitless for the first 5.2 innings while scoring four runs during that stretch to take a lead that would hold for the duration. Travis Stafford recorded his first career triple in the game for Western. Sophomore Aaron Michel (0-1) picked up the loss after throwing 4.2 innings with five strikeouts. Game two of the doubleheader was a pitching duel between the Leathernecks and Colonels. All three runs in the game were scored in the first inning. WIU took a 1-0 lead when Erik Maki crossed the plate on a Tanner Glore sac fly. NSU answered with two in the bottom of the frame to go on top for good. Leatherneck starter Tyler Willman (0-1) threw 6.0 with two strikeouts and two earned runs allowed in the loss. On Friday Western battled in-state foe Southern Illinois. The meeting between the two squads was the first since 2001 in baseball. WIU once again put a run across in the top of the first, but Southern answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning and never looked back on their way to the 10-3 victory. Neil DeCook and Jameson Henning both finished the game with two hits, while Tom Constand (0-1) was handed the loss after throwing 1.1 innings with two strikeouts. The tournament finale featured a rematch with ULM. The game went into extra innings after Western put three runs across in the ninth to tie the game. The Warhawks came away victorious in 11 innings however, 6-5, to give WIU an 0-4 mark during the tourney. Nick Smith (0-1) threw the final 1.1 innings and recorded the loss for the Leathernecks.

A LOOK AT EVANSVILLE: The Purple Aces enter the weekend with a 4-3 overall mark on the season. UE started the year 3-0 after a series sweep over Lipscomb in Nashville. The following weekend the Aces traveled to Macon, Ga. to face Mercer. The Bears came away with three victories over UE during the weekend. This past Wednesday (Feb. 26) the Aces faced #7 Vanderbilt in Nashville. UE scored six runs in the first two innings and came out on top 8-3. Kevin Kaczmarski was a First Team All-Missouri Valley selection in 2013 and is hitting .333 so far in 2014. On the mound, Kyle Freeland is the lone returning starter from 2013 and owns a 1-1 record so far in 2014 with 11 strikeouts in 9.0 innings of work. The head coach of the Purple Aces is Wes Carroll, who is in his fifth season at the helm.

SERIES HISTORY: The only meeting between the two squads came in 1997 in Evansville. The Purple Aces came away with three victories, winning 13-0, 10-6 and 9-1. Head coach Ryan Brownlee was a senior at Evansville during the 1997 season.

EVANSVILLE CONNECTION: Leatherneck head coach Ryan Brownlee was a four-year starter for the Purple Aces from 1994-97. Brownlee played in 223 games in four seasons with 891 at-bats, a .331 career batting average, 94 stolen bases, 189 runs scored and 14 triples, all of which rank in the top-ten in program history. Brownlee played for his father, Jim Brownlee, during his time at Evansville. Jim Brownlee spent 23 years as the head coach at UE, recording 701 career wins during that time. Following Ryan Brownlee's playing career he spent two seasons as an assistant at Evansville, coaching current UE head coach, Wes Carroll, during his freshman and sophomore campaigns. 

MIXING IT UP: With the exception of Zack Burling in center field, the Leathernecks have seen at least two players make a start at every other position during the opening weekend. 12 separate players made starts during the first four-games. Of those 12 players, five started at more than one position.

TRUE-FRESHMEN: Four true-freshmen made their first career collegiate appearances during the Carmel Inn Showdown. Chris Tschida made starts at first base and as the DH. Carson Cheesman, Preston Church and Tyler Stolz all made appearances out of the bullpen for the Purple & Gold. 

USING THE BULLPEN: All 10 non-starting pitchers that traveled to Thibodaux last weekend made appearances for the Purple & Gold out of the Bullpen. Of the 10, Nick Smith, Tyler Owings and Robbie Nunn each made two appearances during the four games. 

UP NEXT?: The Leathernecks begin their spring break trip next weekend (Mar. 7-9) with a trip to Terre Haute, Ind. to face Indiana State. Following the trip to ISU Western heads to Louisville, Ky. for a midweek tilt with the Cardinals on Tuesday and Wednesday (Mar. 12/13).

RETURNERS:
The Leathernecks return 23 players from the 2013 team. Of the 23 returners, 12 are position players and 11 are pitchers. Tanner Glore (.320), Zack Burling (.306) and Neil DeCook (.300) all hit .300 or better during 2013 and all return for their senior seasons. Brent Turner is the only Leatherneck who played in all 57 games last season and he returns for his junior campaign. On the mound Aaron Michel, Tyler Willman, Tom Constand and John White combined to start 42 games in 2013 and will all start the 2014 season in the weekend rotation. Nick Smith (15), Mason Pingel (14), Tyler Owings (12) and Riley Perry (11) all made 10 or more appearances last season and return to the bullpen in 2014. 

FRESH FACES: Western welcomes 12 new players in 2014: seven high school, four JUCO and one redshirt. Of the 12 newcomers, seven are position players and five will be in the bullpen. JJ Reimer was a third team JUCO All-American at Ellsworth CC last season and is expected to start for WIU behind the plate. Chris Tschida earned IHSA Class 3A State Player of the Year honors in 2013 and will start at first base on opening weekend. Madison College transfer Nathan Pollock (.355 BA/32 RBI in 2013) is projected to start in right field for the Leathernecks.

PRESEASON RECOGNITION: Six members of the 2014 squad earned preseason recognition from College Sports Madness. Jameson Henning, Aaron Michel and Zack Burling were tabbed preseason First Team All-League, while Neil DeCook, Tanner Glore and Tom Constand earned preseason Second Team All-Conference nods.

PRESEASON POLL: WIU received one first-place vote and eight overall points in the preseason poll and were picked to finish in fourth place. 2013 regular season champion Omaha was picked to finish first after receiving three first-place votes and 15 total points. 2013 tournament champion South Dakota State finished second in the voting, picking up one first-place vote and 12 points. North Dakota State was third with 10 points, while Fort Wayne rounded out the voting in fifth place with five points.

THE SCHEDULE: The 2014 schedule consists of 52 games for the Leathernecks with 21 home games at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. Western will travel a total of 7,758 miles round-trip during the course of the season with trips to Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota. 

ON AIR: For the fifth straight year every Western Illinois baseball game 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.

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