MACOMB, Ill. -Â Western Illinois baseball hits the road for the second straight weekend for a three-game Summit League series against South Dakota State in Brookings, South Dakota starting Friday (May 1).
With nine games remaining in Summit League play, the Leathernecks are just six games behind the second-place Jackrabbits. Western will look ride the hot bats of Adam McGinnis and Chris Tschida to a second straight series victory over a Summit League opponent.
LAST TIME OUT: Leatherneck baseball picked up a pair of wins at home this week, beating St. Ambrose on Tuesday (April 28) and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Wednesday (April 29).... Against the Bees, Western scored three runs in the first, four runs in the second, and never looked back, winning 9-0... Mark Garton went 2-for-4 and Chris Tschida added a hit while driving in three runs... Sam Cottingham-Beard earned his first career start and first of his career win... He pitched five shutout innings with six hits, one walk, and six strikeouts... The Purple and Gold also added four stolen bases in the win... On Wednesday (April 29) the Leathernecks hosted SIU-Edwardsville... Western and the Cougars tied or changed the lead eight times... WIU scored three runs in the seventh and three runs in the eighth to win the game 14-10... Adam McGinnis swung a hot bat, going 4-for-4 with a sacrifice fly, four RBIs and a run scored... Tschida stayed hot as well, collecting two hits in four at-bats along with two runs and an RBI... True freshman, Kendall King, collected a multi-hit game with a 2-for-3, one-run, two-RBI performance... McGinnis grabbed his 11th stolen base of the season in the victory.Â
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA STATE: The Jackrabbits come into the weekend having won seven of their last nine Summit League games... SDSU is 12-3 when playing at home this season, including an eight-game winning streak which started on April 8 and ended April 17... Head coach David Schrage, in his 27th season, has the Jacks sitting second in The Summit League and in line for their third straight tournament appearance. Zach Coppola leads SDSU with 63 hits and .397 average... Earlier this season in Macomb, Eric Danforth went 6-for-9 at the plate with three runs and an RBI... Paul Jacobson also collected six hits along with five RBIs and a run scored at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium... Adam Bray serves as the SDSU ace with a 6-3 record in 10 starts... Bray carries a 2.63 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 68.1 innings of work... In Macomb, Bray went six innings and gave up five runs (three earned), striking out four to earn the win... The Jackrabbits' Saturday starter, Chris Anderson pitched eight innings against the Leathernecks and gave up just one run in a 2-1 loss... J.D. Moore leads the bullpen with four saves and a 2.57 ERA in 14 appearances... Moore was credited the loss in Western's lone win against SDSU earlier this season.
SERIES HISTORY: Western trails in the all-time series against SDSU, 22-13... The Leathernecks took one game out of three from the Jackrabbits when SDSU traveled to Macomb earlier this season (March 20-22)... WIU's lone win was a 2-1 pitcher's dual... The Jacks won games one and three, 8-5 and 9-7... In 2014 the two teams split the regular-season series at three games each... The Leathernecks ended SDSU's season in The Summit League Tournament, defeating the Jacks 5-2 to advance to the tournament final.
UP NEXT: Western's next game, after its trip to Brookings, is a rematch against nationally-ranked Iowa in Iowa City on Tuesday (May 5)... The Purple and Gold will then wrap up the home portion of their Summit League schedule against Omaha, May 10-12.
TSCHIDA, HE'S SO HOT RIGHT NOW: Leatherneck shortstop Chris Tschida is currently riding a team-high, five-game hitting streak... He has tallied eight hits in five games, including a 3-for-5 performance against North Dakota State... The Joliet, Illinois native also scored six runs and tallied five RBIs over the same period... Tschida's batting average on the hitting streak is .400 and he has boosted his season average to .267.
IT'S ALL IN THE HIPS: An adjusted approach in batting practice has led to success at the plate for WIU... The Leathernecks have notched 10 hits, or more, in four of their last five games... Over the same period, Western is batting over .300 as a team with an on-base percentage just under .400... The Purple and Gold have tallied eight hits for extra bases, including: six doubles, a triple, and a home run. |
