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Chris Tschida - Series Preview

Baseball WIU Athletic Communications

Baseball Begins Spring Break Trip with Series in Dayton

Leathernecks to play Dayton for two games and a single game against Ohio

Western Illinois (0-10) at Dayton (3-7), vs. Ohio (7-6)
FRIDAY, MARCH 10 - 3 p.m.  |  SUNDAY, MARCH 12 - 11 a.m. / 3:30 p.m.
Dayton, Ohio

AUDIO: None
VIDEO: DaytonFlyers.com (first two games)
LIVE STATS: DaytonFlyers.com (first two games)

SOCIAL MEDIA:
@WIUBaseball 

PROBABLE PITCHERS:
Ian Koch (Soph/RHP)
Javin Drake (Fr/RHP)
Preston Church (Sr/LHP)
 
WESTERN TRAVELS TO OHIO FOR START OF SPRING BREAK: Western Illinois opens its Spring Break trip with an adjusted schedule in Dayton, Ohio… With inclement weather in the forecast over the weekend, Western's schedule has been switched to two games at Dayton (Friday afternoon, Sunday morning) and versus Ohio (played on the campus of Wright State)… The trip will continue with a scheduled pair of midweek games versus Kent State on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
SCOUTING THE FLYERS: Dayton brings a 3-7 record into the meeting on Friday afternoon. Dayton lost a 5-4 decision on Thursday to Wright State in 12 innings… WSU rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie and eventually won with two runs in the 12th… It was Dayton's second loss in extra innings this year… UD out-hit Wright State 8-7… Dayton owns a .268 team batting average, .961 fielding percentage and 8.54 team ERA… The Flyers won the series finale at Furman to open the season. After losing a heart-break 21-20 decision to USC Upstate, Dayton put together consecutive wins against Georgetown and UMass Lowell… Maverick Prine leads the hitting at a .370 clip, followed by Pat Meehan (.355) and Connor Echols (.354)… Robbie Doring and Brantley Johnson lead with eight RBI each… Danny Hentz's 3.86 ERA in relief leads the staff… Austin Cline (1-2), who pitched in Thursday's game, leads with 20.2 innings… Tyler Henry (1-0, 5.56) has 11.1 innings pitched and 10 strikeouts… R.J. Wagner earned his win in relief.
 
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS: Ohio is coming off a 6-1 loss to Wright State on Thursday, and will face the Raiders again on Friday before playing the Leathernecks on Sunday afternoon… Ohio took 2-of-3 from Western Kentucky, split four games against SIU-Edwardsville in Georgia, and defeated LaSalle twice and Butler once in Lexington, South Carolina… Four players have a .300 batting average or higher, led by Nick Bredeson (.333) and Michael Klein (.320)… Tyler Finkler has a team-leading 10 RBI… Butch Baird (2-0, 2.04) and Jake Roehn (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 saves) lead the pitching staff. Roehn has not allowed a run in eight innings with 13 strikeouts and three walks to just five hits allowed… Klein also excels on the mound, posting a 1-0 record and 0.64 ERA in three starts and has combined on two shutouts… Ohio has a .255 team batting average, .984 fielding percentage and 3.92 staff ERA.
 
RECAP THE SIU SERIES: Western challenged Southern Illinois during games one and three but came away without a win on the weekend, losing 8-6, 12-2 and 3-2… The Leathernecks let an eighth inning lead slip away in game one, and had opportunities with runners in scoring position but lost another 1-run game in the finale… Adam McGinnis batted .417 on the weekend, followed by Chris Tschida (.375), Roman Visintine (.364) and Johnathan Fleek (333)… Justin Fitzpatrick had two hits in his four at-bats… Western fielded at a better .962 percentage… Seven pitchers allowed one earned run or fewer in their appearances… Ian Koch earned a no-decision on Friday, striking out five in six innings.
 
TSCHIDA APPROACHING CAREER RECORDS LISTINGS: Senior Chris Tschida is approaching a couple of career 'Top 10' categories… With 160 career games played, he needs three more to tie Joe Rooney for 10th place all-time… His 160 hits put him nine shy of Ryan Langdon's total for 10th place, and just 21 away from joining the top five all-time… Tschdia also needs three triples to match the current three-way tie for ninth with nine…
 
ONE RUN LOSSES: Western has played three games so far this year to a one-run loss – 10-9 in extra innings at Mississippi State, 5-4 at Southeast Missouri and 3-2 at Southern Illinois… Western also dropped an 8-6 decision at SIU.
 
SPEAKING STATS: Western owns a .223 team batting average, .943 fielding percentage and 9.43 team ERA.
 
TOUGH SCHEDULE: Western's opponents all currently have a winning record, led by nationally-ranked Texas Tech at 12-2… The cumulative records of Western's opponents so far is 32-18 and the Leathernecks owns a Strength of Schedule RPI of 193 (according to WarrenNolan.com).
 
BACK-TO-BACK JACKS: Western Illinois accomplished a feat not done since March 2008 when in the first inning of game two at Southeast Missouri Adam McGinnis and Drue Galassi hit consecutive home runs… McGinnis launched a 2-run shot followed by Galassi's solo homer to put Western ahead 3-0… It was the first time since Cooper Stewart (3-run) and Tyler Metcalf hit back-to-back jacks at Oklahoma.
 
HIT FOR THE CYCLE, SORT OF: Sophomore Drue Galassi enjoyed a productive day at the plate on Saturday in a doubleheader against #14 Texas Tech and Mississippi State... He earned the start in game one batting seventh. After starting 0-for-2, Galassi lined a RBI triple in the seventh inning. During the ninth inning with two outs, Galassi turned on a 3-2 pitch and launched it well over the right field fence... In the nightcap against the Bulldogs, Galassi batted fourth. He doubled and scored in the fourth inning then singled and stole a base in the sixth.
 
D1BASEBALL.COM PLAYERS TO WATCH: According to the Preseason Summit League preview by D1Baseball.com, seniors Adam McGinnis (C) and Preston Church (LHP) were two of the top 10 prospects in the 2017 MLB Draft Class... Sophomore Deion Thompson was ranked fourth of the five prospects for the 2018 Draft... Freshman right-handed pitcher Javin Drake was one of five Impact Freshman chosen by the website.
 
TEAM NOTES:
• Ian Koch recorded two pickoffs during his start against Mississippi State and has three on the year. He had just one pickoff in his team-leading 12 starts last year... Koch also leads the team in innings pitched (17.2), strikeouts (16) and second in ERA (3.06).
 
• Western has lost 10 straight to start this year, and 16 in a row dating back to last year, and 20 of its last 21 since coming off the series win at South Dakota State.
 
• Senior Preston Church made his first start of the season last weekend at Southern Illinois. The 2016 Preseason Summit League 'Pitcher of the Year' made his first start in nearly a year since missing the final two months.
 
• Senior Adam McGinnis is off to a hot start his senior year. With an overall batting average of .367, the summer collegian Honorable Mention All-America selection has four multi-hit games of his eight played, and also leads with two multi-RBI contests. He has reached base safely in all eight games, and is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak.
 
• Drue Galassi's .571 slugging percentage leads the Leathernecks. The sophomore's seven RBI in nine games played lead the team, as do his two home runs. He missed the final two months of the season with an injury, playing in only 12 games.
 
• Adam McGinnis leads with a .991 OPS, followed by Drue Galassi (.894), Roman Visintine (.836) and Justin Fitzpatrick (.800).
 
• Western's BABIP (batting average on balls in play – excluding home runs and strikeouts) jumps to .297 as a team, led by Cord Church's .750 clip and Justin Fitzpatrick's .500 mark.
 
• The defense has turned nine double plays in 10 games.
 
• Four different players have two sacrifice hits so far – Johnathan Fleek, Drue Galassi, Mitch Ellis and Chris Tschida.
 
• Sam Cottingham-Beard has nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings of relief.
 
• Despite getting out-scored this year 101-34, Western is actually out-scoring the opposition in the ninth inning by a 6-2 margin.
 
• Roman Visintine and Drue Galassi are tied for three multi-hit games this year. Johnathan Fleek has two multi-hit games, including the only 3-hit game by a Leatherneck this season.
 
• Justin Fitzpatrick put together a career-best five game hitting streak earlier this season.
 
• Carson Cheesman returned to the mound after missing the 2016 season with an injury. He threw 1.2 innings of relief at Southeast Missouri.
 
• Pete Minella also made his first appearance after missing the 2016 season with an injury. He has two relief appearances and 2.2 innings pitched.
 
SCHEDULE: Western will face a rigorous non-conference schedule, going up against four teams that advanced to the NCAA Regionals. Three teams finished with 40 wins last year - Texas Tech (47), Mississippi State (44), and Kent State (43)... Southeast Missouri (38), Summit League foe Oral Roberts (38) and Southern Illinois (31) all finished with 31-plus wins.
            "There's a good quote I saw the other day that said, 'You can't sharpen a knife with Kleenex', which I think what our early schedule is. We're going to get better by playing better competition. I don't schedule games to not win, we're scheduling every game because I think we have a legitimate chance to go out and win that game… You look at everyone we're playing they all have Regionals experience for the most part, except for a couple of teams, and I like that. I think it's better for us to go out and get after someone else who has been there. I think you get better by doing that," said Brownlee.
 
HEAD COACH RYAN BROWNLEE: Head coach Ryan Brownlee is in his fifth year in charge of Leatherneck Baseball. His 71 wins ranks him fourth all-time in Western Illinois history... Brownlee has coached 12 All-Summit League selections, seven All-Tournament picks and seen six of his WIU players move on to play professional baseball (3 MLB Draft picks, 3 Free Agent)... He made an immediate impact for the program during his collegiate head coaching debut series in 2013 when the Leathernecks knocked off preseason ranked #1 Arkansas.
 
SUMMIT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL: Western was picked to finish fifth in the Summit League preseason poll... The Leathernecks started the 2016 conference season winning their first three series, but 10 Leathernecks who started early in the season suffered injuries that forced them to miss multiple games. Western ended up 11-19 and just missing on qualifying for the postseason tournament... Junior outfielder Roman Visintine was named one of six from the Summit League as a 'Player to Watch'.
 
 
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Carson Cheesman

#25 Carson Cheesman

LHP
5' 10"
Junior
L/L
Cord Church

#17 Cord Church

OF
6' 2"
Senior
R/R
Preston Church

#24 Preston Church

LHP
6' 3"
Senior
L/L
Sam Cottingham-Beard

#42 Sam Cottingham-Beard

RHP
6' 2"
Junior
R/R
Justin Fitzpatrick

#38 Justin Fitzpatrick

OF
6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
Drue Galassi

#13 Drue Galassi

INF
6' 2"
Redshirt Freshman
L/R
Ian Koch

#23 Ian Koch

P
6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
Adam McGinnis

#12 Adam McGinnis

C
5' 10"
Senior
R/R
Pete Minella

#26 Pete Minella

LHP
6' 2"
Sophomore
L/L
Deion Thompson

#33 Deion Thompson

INF
6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
Chris Tschida

#6 Chris Tschida

INF
6' 2"
Senior
R/R
Roman Visintine

#9 Roman Visintine

OF
6' 0"
Junior
L/R

Players Mentioned

Carson Cheesman

#25 Carson Cheesman

5' 10"
Junior
L/L
LHP
Cord Church

#17 Cord Church

6' 2"
Senior
R/R
OF
Preston Church

#24 Preston Church

6' 3"
Senior
L/L
LHP
Sam Cottingham-Beard

#42 Sam Cottingham-Beard

6' 2"
Junior
R/R
RHP
Justin Fitzpatrick

#38 Justin Fitzpatrick

6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
OF
Drue Galassi

#13 Drue Galassi

6' 2"
Redshirt Freshman
L/R
INF
Ian Koch

#23 Ian Koch

6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
P
Adam McGinnis

#12 Adam McGinnis

5' 10"
Senior
R/R
C
Pete Minella

#26 Pete Minella

6' 2"
Sophomore
L/L
LHP
Deion Thompson

#33 Deion Thompson

6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
INF
Chris Tschida

#6 Chris Tschida

6' 2"
Senior
R/R
INF
Roman Visintine

#9 Roman Visintine

6' 0"
Junior
L/R
OF