MACOMB, Ill. - Leatherneck baseball is headed to the heartland for a doubleheader against Missouri Valley Conference foe Wichita State on Tuesday (March 17) starting at 3 p.m. The two-game set was originally scheduled to be played over two days, but the threat of rain on Wednesday (March 18) forced the teams to reschedule and combine days.
Western enters the contest following a weekend of Summit League baseball where the Leathernecks took their league opener over Fort Wayne. WIU dropped the next two games and look to bounce back against the Shockers. LAST TIME OUT: On Friday, March 13, Western Illinois opened its 2015 Summit League schedule against Fort Wayne (IPFW). The Leathernecks took the opener before dropping games two and three on Saturday and Sunday. In Friday's victory, junior RHP Joe Mortillaro threw a gem, allowing just two runs (one earned) on five hits, and two walks with seven strikeouts. It marked his first win of the season. J.T. Baksha also earned his first-career save in 1.1 innings of scoreless work. A three-run first inning helped fuel WIU's 4-2 win on Friday. Errors by the defense in Saturday's 6-3 loss carried over into Sunday's 8-4 loss. At the plate Jake Moore and Adam McGinnis stole the show with six hits each as both Leathernecks batted .500 on the weekend. Moore also hit his second home run of the season in Sunday's game. Nick Milligan made back-to-back appearances on Saturday and Sunday and allowed no earned runs while striking out three on Saturday and a career-high five on Sunday in a total of 3.0 innings pitched. Over the weekend, Western scored 11 runs on 27 hits, including four doubles and a home run. Western stole six bases in the series. The Purple and Gold pitching staff combined for a 3.67 ERA with 30 strikeouts over 27 innings of work. Friday's win also marks WIU's second straight league-opening victory.
A LOOK AT THE SHOCKERS: Wichita State welcomes WIU as the tailend of a 10-game home stand. This past weekend (March 13-15) the Shockers dropped two out of three games to UC-Santa Barbara at Eck Stadium. WSU won game one 3-2 before dropping games two and three by a combined 14-3. Prior to the UCSB series the Shockers split midweek contests, falling to Central Arkansas and defeating Arkansas-Little Rock in Wichita. On offense Mikel Muchna and Ryan Tinkham lead WSU. Muchna carries a .373 batting average with three doubles, eight runs and five RBI. Tinkam bats .293 with eight doubles, seven runs, and 11 RBI. Second-year head coach Todd Butler leads the Shockers. In his first season, Butler led Wichita State to a 31-28 record, Prior to his arrival at WSU, Butler worked 16 years in the SEC at Arkansas and Alabama.
SERIES HISTORY: The Leathernecks invade Wichita looking for their first win over the Shockers in program history. The two teams have met four times previously and Wichita State has taken each contest. Most recently, WIU and WSU faced off on March 1, 2013 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Shockers won the game 11-3.Â
NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE: Junior transfer RHP Joe Mortillaro continues to impress in his first season of competition for Western. Mortillaro debuted as a Leatherneck against Middle Tennessee State on Feb. 22 with just one strikeout in 3.2 innings pitched. The Middle Village, N.Y. native followed up his 2015 premiere with a five inning, nine strikeout outing against No. 10 Oklahoma State on Friday (Feb. 27). He improved his resume this past weekend (March 13) against Fort Wayne. He allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out seven in 7.2 innings of work. The outing lowered his season ERA to 2.11, leading all starters.
BLAZING-HOT BATS: After their combined 12-hit weekend Jake Moore and Adam McGinnis have hitting streaks of four and three games, respectively. McGinnis has a reached-base streak of four. His weekend against Fort Wayne broke the sophomore out of a six-game slump where he failed to hit or reach base safely. The weekend performance improved Moore to a team-high .371.
NATIONAL WATCH LIST: Sophomore catcher Adam McGinnis has been placed on the Johnny Bench Award Watch List. The honor is given to the top catcher in NCAA Division I baseball. McGinnis joins 74 additional candidates thanks to the nomination of head coach Ryan Brownlee. Semifinalists will be announced May 14 and finalists announced on June 2. The award will be presented on June 25 in Wichita, Kansas. Past award winners include current Major League catchers Buster Posey (Giants) and Kurt Suzuki (Twins).
BASEBALL IS ON THE AIR: All season long, Western Illinois baseball will be available to follow online at GoLeathernecks.com/watch. Nearly each game at home and on the road will be streamed online available to the public for a small subscription. Home series will also have video streaming as well. Road games at Omaha, South Dakota State, and Fort Wayne will not be available due to facilities availability. So far in 2015, each game is averaging 500 views/listens with over 2,000 people attending or taking in the Summit League opening series March 13-15.
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