MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois baseball plays host to the No. 24 Iowa Hawkeyes on Wednesday (April 1) at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

The game will mark Western's second meeting against a nationally-ranked opponent this season. It also is the first of two meetings between the Leathernecks and Hawkeyes in 2015.

LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois baseball collected three wins and dropped just one loss last week (March 23-29)... On Wednesday (March 25) the Leathernecks took on Illinois-Springfiled in Macomb, and won 14-1... Jake Moore hit his third home run of the season in the victory... Wednesday's game redeems WIU after last year's 17-10 loss to the Prairie Stars in Macomb... J.T. Baksha earned the first win of his career in a predetermined two-inning start... North Dakota State came to town on Friday (March 27) for a three-game Summit League series... In game one, the Leathernecks shut the Bison out 1-0... Joe Mortillaro earned his second win of the season, pitching seven innings and allowing just one run on four strikeouts... Tyler Owings pitched the final two innings for his second save of the season... Game two was another Purple and Gold victory, 3-1... It gave Western its first series victory of the season and Tom Constand his first win as a senior... Owings came on for the second consecutive day and earned the save, his third of the season, and ninth of his career... The back-to-back saves ties Owings for Western's all-time saves record with Brian Loconsole who is currently at spring training with the LAA Angels...  On Sunday the Bison avoided the sweep, defeating Western 10-2.

SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES: The University of Iowa (18-6, 3-0 Big Ten), comes into Macomb, Illinois on a four-game win streak and with its best start in program history since 1941... In their Big Ten Conference opener against no. 19 Indiana (March 27-29), the Hawkeyes swept the Hoosiers in three games in Iowa City... The U of I also hosted Grand View University of Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday (March 31), winning 9-2... On the mound, the Hawkeyes will start junior RHP Connor Grant... Grant has appeared in eight games with one start and has recorded two saves with 11 strikeouts over 17 innings of work and boasts a 3.71 ERA... At the plate, Eric Toole leads the charge with an average of .347 and a team-high 21 runs scored... Joel Booker bats .312 and is tied for the team lead with two home runs and 17 RBI... Leading the Hawkeyes is second-year skipper Rick Heller... In his first season in Iowa City, Heller helped guide the Hawkeyes to a 9-1 start, the program's best start since 1940... He also led UI to a Big Ten Tournament berth and conference tournament win... Iowa finished the year with a 30-23 record for just the third 30-win season since 1993... The 30 victories are the most by a first-year coach in Iowa history.

SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday's game will mark the 81st meeting between the Leathernecks and Hawkeyes... The teams last met on Tuesday, Arpil 15, 2014 in Iowa City... Western won the game 8-6 in 10 innings after leading 6-2 in the seventh...The Leathernecks trail in the series 53-26-1... Iowa last traveled to Macomb on March 27, 2011 for a single game, defeating the Leathernecks 6-2.  

UP NEXT: Following its clash with the Hawkeyes, Western baseball will hit the road for the first time in over two weeks for a three-game series in Omaha against the Mavericks (April 3-5)... The Easter weekend games will mark the opening of WIU's Summit League road slate... The Leathernecks will stay on the road for a midweek game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Tuesday, April 7.

FAMILY TIES AND IOWA ROOTS: Before joining the Leatherneck family in 2013, head coach Ryan Brownlee spent eight years coaching at the University of Iowa (2004-2012)... Current volunteer-assistant coach Derek Stecklein worked five years as a student manager for the Hawkeyes... Additionally, Brownlee's father, Jim Brownlee served as a the interim pitching assistant on the Iowa staff in 2013.

PURPLE AND GOLD HITTING STREAKS: So far this season, Payton Jeffers, Chris Tschida, and Jake Moore have all posted career-high hitting streaks of nine, seven, and six games, respectively... Tschida has also reached base safely in his last 14 games.  

SUMMIT LEAGUE 'PLAYER OF THE WEEK': On Monday, March 23 Chris Tschida was named The Summit League Baseball 'Player of the Week'... It is Tschida's first career 'Player of the Week' honor... The sophomore shortstop collected four extra-base hits, including his first home run of the season and accounted for 10 runs in five games from March 9-15.
 

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