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Preston Church - Series Preview

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Baseball Plays Host to SDSU

Leathernecks reach halfway point of Summit League schedule this weekend versus Jackrabbits

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

South Dakota State (14-14 overall, 7-5 Summit League)
vs. Western Illinois (9-21 overall, 6-6 Summit League)
FRIDAY, APRIL 14 - 3 p.m.
SATURDAY, APRIL 15 - 11 a.m. (DH)
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Macomb, Illinois • Alfred D. Boyer Stadium
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LEATHERNECKS GAME NOTES

JACKRABBITS GAME NOTES
 
COVERAGE

LIVE STATS: 
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LIVE VIDEO:
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SEASON INFORMATION

2017 Record Book (.PDF)
2017 Schedule
2017 Roster
Updated Statistics
Summit League
 

WELCOME HOME: Western Illinois returns from an eight-game road trip this weekend, playing host to South Dakota State... The Summit League series opens four straight at home for the Leathernecks... Western, currently 5-3 at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium this year, is scheduled to play 11 of the final 21 games at home - including nine of those against a conference opponent.

LAST YEAR: Western Illinois took 2-of-3 at home against South Dakota State, winning the opener and finale 3-2 and 2-0, respectively, but losing game two 11-3... Six weeks later in Brookings, the Leathernecks won the series again by the same scenario. Western won the opener 5-1 and the finale 3-1 but lost game two 6-3.

LAST TIME OUT: Deion Thompson reached base safely in all four plate appearances, including a new career-high of three hits, but the Leathernecks dropped a 4-1 decision Tuesday at Iowa... Western out-hit Iowa 10-7 on the night... Roman Visintine added two hits and a RBI... Ian Koch, Matthew Sturchio and Nate Westfahl all threw an inning of shutout relief.

NUMBERS ON THE RISE: Since starting the year 0-11, Western is 9-10 following the recent loss at Iowa… Western jumped its batting average up to .275 and fielding percentage to .965 while lowering the ERA to 3.49... Ben Sellers is 5-of-12 at the plate, followed by Steve McShane also hitting over .400 in that span (.407, 11-of-27)... Johnathan Fleek is at .361, followed by Adam McGinnis at .350, Mitch Ellis at .322, and Chris Tschida increasing to .304... Fleek (7 walks/6 strikeouts) and McGinnis (16 walks/5 strikeouts) both have a higher walk to strikeout ratio... Western has turned 19 double plays in those 19 games... Everyone with at least eight innings pitched in that span has an ERA at 5.79 or lower while holding opponents to a .236 batting average... Four of Western's nine wins have come when scoring nine or more runs... Western's three weekend starting pitchers (Ian Koch, Preston Church and Javin Drake) have combined for 59 strikeouts in 87.2 innings.

WESTFAHL SAVES THE DAY: Senior Nate Westfahl picked up his second save of the year following the 5-2 win at Oral Roberts… His seven saves gives him sole possession of third place all-time… He needs two more to tie Brian Loconsole for second place... His five season saves in 2016 tied him for third-most by a Leatherneck.

DIAMOND STEALING: Western continues to lead The Summit League in stolen bases, and the margin continues to grow... The Leathernecks are 52-of-74 this year, including 15 steals in 12 conference games... The next closest in The Summit League is Oral Roberts with 33 in 41 attempts... Johnathan Fleek leads the team with seven steal as 11 Leathernecks have at least three stolen bases... Cord Church is next at 6-for-6, followed by Deion Thompson and Steve McShane both at 5-of-6... Adam McGinnis (4-7), Mitch Ellis (4-7), Roman Visintine (4-7), and Chris Tschida (4-5) are next.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Western leads The Summit League and rank 52nd averaging 0.93 double plays turned per game… Western's 1.73 stolen bases average lead the conference and ranks 22nd nationally… Ian Koch's eight starts tie for The Summit League lead and 28th nationally... Adam McGinnis also lead the Summit and stands 81st nationally with a .465 on-base percentage. He is third in the league and 74th in the country with a 11.6 toughest to strikeout ratio... Roman Visintine is 50th nationally with his Summit-leading three triples... Deion Thompson is second in the league with two triples (in as many games)... As a team, Western is second in triples with eight and is 93rd nationally.

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… Not to be outdone, another pair of Leatherneck teammates accomplished the same feat at home versus North Dakota State. Mitch Ellis and Deion Thompson both hit solo homers in game one of the series… 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:
• Western Illinois made it consecutive weeks winning The Summit League 'Player of the Week' award. Chris Tschida won it the week of April 3, and Mitch Ellis is the current 'Player of the Week' winner. Ellis had nine hits in the Omaha series win last weekend.

• Mitch Ellis record nine hits over the Omaha weekend, including a season-high four hits in the opener.

• Adam McGinnis brings a 19-game reached base safely streak to the weekend series.

• Adam McGinnis leads the team with 20.64 runs created this year. Chris Tschida (14.66) and Roman Visintine (14.05) are next followed closely by Johnathan Fleek (13.01) and Mitch Ellis (12.69).

• Deion Thompson's two career triples have come in the last two games.

• Steve McShane went 6-for-10 at the plate at Omaha, including his first-ever 3-hit game during game two.

• Pete Minella worked his longest outing in two years in the Omaha finale, going 2.2 shutout innings in which he retired eight batters in a row. Ahead by a run in the ninth, he went 3-0 on the leadoff batter before battling back to a 3-2 count and got a groundout.

• Western holds an edge this year in pinch-hitting, going 12-for-37 (.324) compared to 8-of-29 (.276) for opponents.

FOOTBALL/BASEBALL DUO: Sophomore outfielders Justin Fitzpatrick and Steve McShane begin their second year playing both football and baseball.
    McShane jumped his season batting average up to .333 as he is currently on a personal-best four-game hitting streak. He is third on the team with 5-of-6 stolen bases and scored seven runs this year. Over the last 19 games, McShane owns a .407 average... McShane earned Second Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors at running back, finishing with 917 rushing yards (2nd most in the MVFC) and team-leading eight touchdowns. McShane was a MVFC 'Offensive Player of the Week' and Honorable Mention 'National Offensive Player of the Week' following his career-high 207 rushing yards and two touchdowns at Eastern Illinois. It was the first of his three 100-yard rushing games. He added 234 receiving yards on 23 catches and a TD in 11 games.
    Fitzpatrick, like McShane, has seen an increase in playing time of late. His average jumped up to .200 with three doubles and four runs scored. He had a hit and walk in the Iowa game... Fitzpatrick played in all 11 games last season as a defensive back. He made 19 tackles on the year, 16 of which were solos, and broke up three passes. Fitzpatrick recorded a career-high seven tackles against Northern Arizona and South Dakota State.

TSCHIDA REWRITING CAREER RECORDS: Senior Chris Tschida recorded a base hit at Iowa during the midweek game, moving him into a tie for fifth place on the career 'Top 10' list with WIU Hall of Famer Steve Jeffers... With 180 career games played he is now in seventh place, and if he plays in all three games this weekend could move into a tie for fifth place... Tschida leads the team with 17 RBI and second with seven doubles.
CAREER HITS
1.    232    Ryan Schmidgall    2003-06
2.    224    Dan Dispensa    2010-13
3.    203    Jeff Wellwood    1999-02
4.    186    Jim Morsovillo    1993-96
5.    181    Chris Tschida    2014-Pr    
       181    Steve Jeffers    1983-86

CAREER GAMES PLAYED
1.    229    Ryan Schmidgall     2003-06
2.    202    Jeff Wellwood     1999-02
3.    201    Dan Dispensa     2010-13
4.    199    Nick Simmons     2003-06
5.    183    Brent Turner    2012-15
      183    Tom Lilja    2009-12
7.    180    Chris Tschida    2014-Pr    
8.    176    Troy Shelby     2000-03
9.     173    Cooper Stewart    2006-09
10.    167    Jim Morsovillo     1993-96
11.    165    Adam McGinnis    2014-Pr

SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS: South Dakota State is off to a 7-5 start in Summit League play, most recently losing 2-of-3 close games at North Dakota State... SDSU swept Omaha on the road and Fort Wayne at home, but was swept by Oral Roberts in Tulsa... Nick Smith (.325), Phillip Jacobson (.324) and Matt Johnson (.321) are all within a couple of points of each other in the team batting average lead... Matt Johnson has hit a team-leading six home runs, accounting for half of the 12 hit by SDSU... Chris Halbur owns a 1-0 record and 0.45 ERA in 20 innings while earning five saves. He has helped on two combined shutouts, allowing one run on 10 hits with 23 strikeouts to just five walks... Ryan Froom (3-2) leads the pitching staff in wins.





















































 






 
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Players Mentioned

Cord Church

#17 Cord Church

OF
6' 2"
Senior
R/R
Preston Church

#24 Preston Church

LHP
6' 3"
Senior
L/L
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
Steve McShane

#39 Steve McShane

OF
5' 8"
Sophomore
R/R
Pete Minella

#26 Pete Minella

LHP
6' 2"
Sophomore
L/L
Ben Sellers

#36 Ben Sellers

INF/P
6' 2"
Redshirt Freshman
L/L
Matthew Sturchio

#2 Matthew Sturchio

P
5' 9"
Senior
R/R
Deion Thompson

#33 Deion Thompson

INF
6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
Chris Tschida

#6 Chris Tschida

INF
6' 2"
Senior
R/R

Players Mentioned

Cord Church

#17 Cord Church

6' 2"
Senior
R/R
OF
Preston Church

#24 Preston Church

6' 3"
Senior
L/L
LHP
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
Steve McShane

#39 Steve McShane

5' 8"
Sophomore
R/R
OF
Pete Minella

#26 Pete Minella

6' 2"
Sophomore
L/L
LHP
Ben Sellers

#36 Ben Sellers

6' 2"
Redshirt Freshman
L/L
INF/P
Matthew Sturchio

#2 Matthew Sturchio

5' 9"
Senior
R/R
P
Deion Thompson

#33 Deion Thompson

6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
INF
Chris Tschida

#6 Chris Tschida

6' 2"
Senior
R/R
INF