MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois baseball begins its nine-game road swing this weekend in Fort Wayne, Ind. against the Fort Wayne Mastodons. The two teams will square off in a pair of doubleheaders Saturday (April 12) and Sunday. Saturday's games will count as Summit League contests, while Sunday's games will be counted as nonconference. All four games take place at Mastodon Field. 

LAST TIME OUT: Western fell to Illinois-Springfield, 17-10, on Wednesday (April 9) in the first meeting between the two teams in program history. The Leathernecks used 11 pitchers in the nonconference game, with John White taking the loss after throwing the first inning with three runs allowed. At the plate 15 different Leathernecks recorded an at-bat with five Western players recording multiple hits. Zack Burling, Erik Maki and Chris Tschida all recorded two RBIs, while Neil DeCook scored twice for the Purple & Gold. The teams combined for 37 total hits in the game, with WIU notching 15.

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS: Fort Wayne enters the weekend atop the Summit League with a 5-1 mark in league play and 13-17 record overall. Picked to finish last in the preseason poll, the Mastodons have come alive at the plate this season. As a team IPFW leads the league in hits (304), runs (183), triples (10), home runs (24), RBIs (166), slugging (.437), batting average (.298) and on-base % (.386). Individually for IPFW, Kristian Gayday is hitting .373 with a league-best nine home runs this season. Carter DeBoe is hitting .322 with a league-high 31 RBIs on the year. The head coach of the Mastodons is Bobby Pierce, who is in his sixth season at the helm.

ON THE MOUND: Fort Wayne will start Jr. RHP Ryan Wells (2-0, 3.86 ERA), Jr. RHP Dane Davis (1-2, 6.57 ERA), Jr. LHP Nate White (1-4, 4.36 ERA) and Sr. RHP Steve Danielak (1-2, 8.65 ERA) during the four-game set. 

SERIES HISTORY: Western leads the 28-game series, 17-11. Last season the Leathernecks won four times in six meetings. Western won three of the four games played in Fort Wayne after the teams split a doubleheader in Macomb. 

IN THE LEAGUE: Tyler Willman is third in the league in ERA with a 2.42 mark, while Aaron Michel is seventh at 2.81. Willman and Michel are tied for sixth in the league in wins with two each. Zack Burling (11) and Neil DeCook (9) are second and third in the league in stolen bases.

PITCHERS OF THE WEEK: Leatherneck pitchers Tyler Willman (April 7) and Aaron Michel (March 31) were named The Summit League's 'Pitcher of the Week' in back-to-back weeks for their respective shutout performances. Willman's nine-inning shutout against Omaha earned the Oshkosh, Wis. native his first career 'Pitcher of the Week' honors. Michel's seven-inning shutout against South Dakota State in the conference home opener earned the Decatur, Ill. native his second career POW honors. The last time WIU baseball had back-to-back 'Pitcher of the Week' honors was in 2012 when the Leathernecks accomplished the feat three weeks in a row.

WALK-OFF FASHION: The Leathernecks had their first two walk-off wins in 2014 against the Bison on Sunday (March 30). Zack Burling played a role in both walk-offs, scoring the game-winning run in the opener on a Tanner Glore sacrifice fly and hitting the walk-off single in game two. The last time WIU won on a walk-off was May 10, 2013. In that game the Leathernecks defeated the Bison on a walk-off single in the 10th inning from Burling, Glore scored the game-winning run.

IN THE NATION: Tanner Glore is 16th nationally with five sacrifice flys this season. Zack Burling is 48th in stolen bases/game (0.46) and 92nd in stolen bases (11). Neil DeCook is 96th nationally in stolen bases/game (0.39).

ON THE BASEPATHS: Western is 43/56 (77%) through the first 24 games this season in stolen base attempts. Zack Burling (11/13) and Neil DeCook (9/9) rank second and third in the league in steals, respectively. The Leathernecks as a team are 20th nationally in stolen bases per game with a 1.79 average and 62nd in stolen bases with 43.

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Leatherneck junior Brent Turner was named Papa John's Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Monday (March 24) for his performances on the field and in the classroom. The Bloomington, Ill. native hit a team-best .556 against Butler with a team-leading .583 on-base percentage and .778 slugging percentage. Turner owns a 3.37 GPA majoring in Biology.

WILLMAN RECOGNITION: Junior pitcher Tyler Willman was recognized by Baseball America as an under the radar draft prospect. The righty has a 2-2 mark in 2014 with a 2.42 ERA in 44.2 innings of work. Each week Willman has been listed in the 'Top 100' draft-eligible college players on baseballamerica.com. To view the Baseball America release, click HERE.

UP NEXT?: Western travels to Iowa City, Iowa to take on Big 10 member Iowa Tuesday (April 15) in a nonconference game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

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.

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. 

ROSTER RUNDOWN: The Leathernecks return 23 players from the 2013 team. Of the 23 returners, 12 are position players and 11 are pitchers. 12 new players are taking the field for the first time in 2014. One redshirt, four JUCO and seven high school players make up the 12 newcomers. The Leatherneck roster is made up of nine seniors, 13 juniors, five sophomores and eight freshmen.

ON AIR: For the fifth straight year Western Illinois baseball games will be broadcast live on the Internet (Rocky Vision). Fans can log onto www.GoLeathernecks.com and click on the icon to Listen Live free of charge.

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