WELCOME BACK ALUMNI: Western Illinois baseball alumni return this weekend for their annual reunion. Welcome back all former players and coaches to Alfred D. Boyer Stadium.
FIRST MEETING: The Leathernecks took 2-of-3 earlier this month in Omaha, winning the first and third games 14-4 and 11-10, respectively... Mitch Ellis batted .692 followed by Steve McShane (.600) and Adam McGinnis (.545) in average... Ben Sellers went 4-for-5 in the finale... Ian Koch and Javin Drake picked up the victory.
GALASSI NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Drue Galassi (Peoria/Richwoods) batted .647 in four baseball games last week, including three home runs and 14 RBI, and the redshirt-freshman outfielder was named Collegiate Baseball National 'Co-Player of the Week' and Summit League 'Player of the Week' on Monday... He began last week on a streak of two consecutive base hits in his last two at-bats. Galassi had a record day in the 21-4 win over SIU-Edwardsville, going 5-for-5 with 10 RBI and five runs scored. Two of his five hits were grand slams, setting a WIU single-game record with 10 RBI, two grand slams hit and tying the runs scored record... Galassi continued his hot streak in game one at Fort Wayne, starting 2-for-2 and extending his streak to nine straight base hits. He ended the weekend with six hits, including another home run, to lead Western to a series win... In those four games, Galassi went 11-for-17 at the plate, scored nine runs, posted a 1.353 slugging percentage and .700 on-base percentage. He entered last week with three home runs and 13 RBI on the season.
LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois scored two runs in the first and seventh inning and won at Illinois State 4-1 on Tuesday... Dave Dobrinich drove in a run and finished with his first-career multi-hit game... Drue Galassi, Adam McGinnis and Mitch Ellis also finished with two hits apiece as the Leathernecks out-hit ISU 10-5... Western also took advantage of two Redbird errors... Pete Minella opened the game with two shutout innings and picked up the win... He was the first of seven WIU pitchers... Nate Westfahl pitched the final two out for his third save this year... The defense turned two double plays.
SUMMIT RECAP: With four Summit League series remaining, Western looks to improve on its current 4-2 record winning series... The Leathernecks took 4-of-6 from Fort Wayne this year and so far won series against Omaha and South Dakota State while looking to bounce back after losing 2-of-3 against North Dakota State and Oral Roberts... Western currently sits in a tie for second place but just three games ahead of fifth place Omaha. The top four teams advance to the Summit League Tournament next month in Tulsa.
WIN TOTALS: Having won seven of their last 10, the Leathernecks' 15 victories have surpassed last year's win total and now just one away from the 2015 total... Dating back over the past 10 years, 21 is the highest win total for WIU (done three times)... Western is scheduled for 12 more Summit League games, another non-conference home contest and the Summit League Tournament (if qualified)... The current 10 Summit League wins put Western on the verge of another high total in that same span (13 the highest dating back to 2006).
NUMBERS ON THE RISE: Since starting the year 0-11, Western is 15-12 following the 4-1 win at Illinois State... Adam McGinnis' .383 batting average leads the way as seven starters are hitting .300 or higher - with the team posting a .295 hitting clip... The defense owns a .966 fielding percentage while the pitching staff lowered their ERA to 3.55 in the 27-game span... Ian Koch leads with four victories, followed by Preston Church and Javin Drake with three wins each... Pete Minella is 2-0 with three saves... Nate Westfahl has three saves and Sam Cottingham-Beard is 1-1 with two saves... During this hot hitting span Western has had three players named Summit League 'Player of the Week' - Chris Tschida (.300), Mitch Ellis (.341) and current honoree Drue Galassi (.352). In fact, Galassi is the reigning Co-National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball... Of Western's 15 victories, one came in extra innings (7-5 in 10 at Dayton) and four have been 10-run wins in either seven or eight innings.
DIAMOND STEALING: Western continues to lead The Summit League in stolen bases, by a wide margin... The Leathernecks swiped 63 bases in 38 games, 21 more than the next closest (Oral Roberts)... The 63 steals rank WIU 26th nationally and the 1.66 per game average puts the team 23rd in the country... The team remains balanced up and down the lineup in steals - Deion Thompson the highest ranked Leatherneck at eighth (8-of-10) in The Summit League. Western has 10 players ranked in the 'Top 25' (minimum four stolen bases).
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Adam McGinnis ranks 74th in batting average with a Summit League leading .370 clip. He also ranks 80th in doubles (0.36 p/g), 36th in on-base percentage (.477) and 40th in toughest to strikeout (12.7)... Ian Koch ranks 35th in games started (10)... Johnathan Fleek ranks 68th being hit by a Summit League-leading 10 pitches... Roman Visintine's League-leading four triples place his 31st in the country.
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.
SUMMIT LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARDS:
Chris Tschida - Player of the Week (April 3)
Mitch Ellis - Player of the Week (April 10)
Drue Galassi - Player of the Week (April 24)... also named Collegiate Baseball Co-National Player of the Week.
TEAM NOTES:
• Deion Thompson saw his career-high 9-game hitting streak come to an end at Illinois State. He is, however, on a current 10-game reached base streak.
• Adam McGinnis has reached base in 27 consecutive games. He leads the team with 15 multi-hit games. He recently hit his 30th career double.
• Drue Galassi is currently riding a career-best 6-game hitting streak. He ranks third in The Summit League with a .569 slugging percentage... He's second on the team with 13 multi-hit games.
• Earning his third save of the year following the Illinois State win, Nate Westfahl now has eight in his two-year career and stands third all-time (one shy of second place).
• Drue Galassi and Steve McShane have tied or broken four single-game records this year - all in the past two weeks.
• In Summit League games, Adam McGinnis owns a .409 batting average, .591 slugging percentage and .519 on-base percentage.
• Pete Minella owns a 2-0 record with three saves and 1.08 ERA in his last 11 appearances. Opponents are batting just .153 off him.
• Preston Church owns a 2.75 ERA in his last seven starts, spanning 39.1 innings. Opponents are batting just .200 off him.
• Sam Cottingham-Beard has 22 strikeouts in his last nine appearances (14.2 IP).
TSCHIDA APPROACHING A MILESTONE: Senior Chris Tschida is nearing a milestone, he recorded his 190th career base hit at Illinois State (188 career games). With 10 more hits, Tschida would become just the fourth Leatherneck ever to achieve that feat. He currently ranks fourth all-time in hits - trailing: Ryan Schmidgall (232), Dan Dispensa (224) and Jeff Wellwood (203)... His 251 total bases overtook 10th place all-time and he stands fifth all-time in games played.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Omaha brings a 7-11 Summit League record into the weekend and 10-30 overall... Cole Thibodeau and Grant Suponchick lead with a .278 batting average each... Sam Palensky is next among the starters with his .269 batting average... Ryan Cate leads with 12 doubles and 22 RBI... Omaha is batting .238 as a team with a .952 fielding percentage and 7.19 ERA... Sam Murphy owns a 3-5 record and 5.44 ERA in 49.2 innings... Corey Binger is 3-8 with a 6.24 ERA and three complete games... Suponchick owns a 0-4 record but has two of the team's three saves.
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