MACOMB, Ill. - It is senior weekend for Western Illinois baseball and the Leathernecks are hosting the Mavericks of Omaha at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium.

The three-game series opens on Friday (May 8) at 3 p.m. with games two and three scheduled for noon the following two days. Sunday's finale will feature a ceremony honoring all six seniors, including: Tom Constand, Jake Moore, Tyler Owings JJ Reimer, Nick Smith, and Brent Turner.

Western is currently tied with North Dakota State in The Summit League standings and is battling for the fourth, and final, berth in The Summit League Tournament. With only six games left in league play, the Leathernecks will need every win they can get.

LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois closed out its nonconference schedule on Tuesday (May 5) at No. 15 Iowa... Neither team scored a run in the first four innings... The Leathernecks scored first in the top of the fifth... Brent Turner singled to center and Colton Pogue followed with a double...  JJ Reimer  singled to drive in both runners and give Western a 2-0 lead... Iowa scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and five more in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead... In the top of the seventh inning Kendall King led off with a single to left center and Turner would drive him in... Jake Moore then hit his fifth home run of the season to make the score 6-5... It was a two-run shot to left field with the wind blowing in... The Hawkeyes added insurance in the eighth to make the final score 7-5... Moore finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and two RBIs... Turner also turned in a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs and an RBI... As a team, Western tallied nine hits and three stolen bases... J.T. Baksha was given the loss... A total of seven WIU pitchers produced seven strikeouts over eight innings of work.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Since playing Western April 3-5 Omaha has gone 4-14 and dropped to fourth place in The Summit League... In its last action UNO was swept by first-place Oral Roberts in Omaha... Final scores from each game were 5-3, 8-6, and 18-7... Game three of the series was played at Millard North High School due to weather and ended in eight innings... At the plate the Mavericks are led by Cole Gruber... He is batting .403 with 39 runs scored... Clayton Taylor leads the team with 35 RBIs and six home runs... On the mound its Tyler Fox filling the role of pitching ace... Fox is 4-4 in 12 starts with a 3.54 ERA and 58 strikeouts... Omaha is in its final season of transition into NCAA Division I and thus is still ineligible for postseason play, including The Summit League Tournament.

SERIES HISTORY: Omaha holds a decisive lead over Western in the all-time series... In Omaha earlier this season the Leathernecks won their second game ever against the Mavericks... It was game two of the three-game series and WIU won 8-4.

UP NEXT: Following their home finale against Omaha, the Purple and Gold travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to close out the regular season against Oral Roberts... The three-game series is set to start Thursday (May 14) and end Saturday (May 16)... Games from both the Omaha and Oral Roberts series will be critical in deciding the fourth, and final, spot in The Summit League Tournament.