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Javin Drake
Sarah Twidwell

Leatherneck Baseball Begins 2020 Journey at Tennessee

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

Western Illinois opens up the season with a three-game series against the Vols on Friday (Feb. 14) at 3:30 p.m.

Series One

Who | Western Illinois at Tennessee 
When | Friday (Feb. 14) at 3:30 p.m. - Saturday (Feb. 15) at 1 p.m. - Sunday (Feb. 16) at 11 a.m.
Where | Knoxville, Tenn. - Lindsey Nelson Stadium
Watch | SECN+ / Watch ESPN
Social Media | Twitter and Facebook #TRADITIONofTOUGH

First Pitch | The Western Illinois baseball team begins the 2020 campaign and 115th season as a program at Southeastern Conference (SEC) opponent Tennessee for a three-game series. 

New Direction | Friday begins the career of first-year head coach Andy Pascoe who is the seventh head coach in program history. He was hired on Sept. 19, 2019, after he spent three seasons at Butler (2016-19) as an assistant / hitting coach.  

SEC History | The season opener will mark the inaugural meeting between both schools. The Leathernecks have dipped into the SEC before at a total of 46 times to sit at 6-40 overall. 

Western last recorded a win against the conference in 2013 against at the time #1 Arkansas 7-5 in the series finale. 
SEC Opponents Records 
Arkansas | 2-12
Georgia | 1-2
LSU | 0-1
Missouri | 3-17
Mississippi State | 0-5
Vanderbilt | 0-3

Scouting the Vols | The three-time SEC champions are headlined by Alerick Soularie, who has earned four preseason All-America honors last Friday (Feb. 7). Rated as the No. 46 MLB draft pick, he helped lead the Vols to its first NCAA Tournament since 2005 last season. 

Tennessee is coming off a 40 win season and runners up in the Chapel Hill Regional.

2020 Momentum | Last season the Leathernecks collected 22 wins, which tied the most single-season wins in 12 years. Also the program record was set for the most Summit League victories (16) and WIU handed Oral Roberts, a four-time league champion, its first-ever sweep in league play. 

The Leathernecks return the ace of the staff, Javin Drake and key offense pieces Drue Galassi (.298) and Kevin Raisbeck (.291) who each batted just a shy under .300. Both Drake and Galassi First Team All-Summit selections last season as well. 

DraKKKKe | A strikeout machine, Javin Drake retakes the mound as the Leatherneck ace. Last season he set the single-season program record for strikeouts (109) for a career total of 204 and is only 34 more away from becoming the all-time leader. He also tied 10th for wins in a season with seven and third in innings pitch at 103. 

Galassi's Grass | Drue Galassi has raked at the plate since he stepped foot at WIU. After earning a medical redshirt in 2016, he bounced back to be named a 2017 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American while batting .281 with eight home runs and slugging .519. That season he also hit two grand slams in one inning to be named Collegiate Baseball Co-National Player of the Week en route to setting the program's single-game record of 10 RBI.

Galassi ranks ninth all-time in home runs (20) and seventh in RBI (107). He returns to the Purple and Gold as last seasons leader in slugging (.527), hits (56), RBI (51), triples (2), and home runs (10)
 
Find a Way | Kevin Raisbeck simply finds a way on. He currently has reached base in 27 consecutive games, which ties the Leathernecks' longest streak since former catcher and current graduate assistant coach Adam McGinnis in 2017. 

Raisbeck joined the program ahead of the 2019 season, after transferring in from Ellsworth Community College, he ended as the 2019 team-leader in runs (38) and walks (29) along with eight two-hit games, five three-hit games, and one four-hit game. 

A Whole New Staff | First-year head coach Andy Pascoe isn't the only new member of the staff this season. He adds assistant/pitching coach Braeden Ward, graduate assistant coach Adam McGinnis and volunteer assistant coach Trey Muilenburg for the season. 

Hall of Fame | Western's 1974 baseball team, was inducted into the Western Athletics Hall of Fame this past fall. Coached by the program's all-time winningest coach and 2004 Hall of Fame inductee Dick Pawlow, the '74 squad also has two players enshrined in Ed Gvazdinskas (1994) and Dennis Mantick (2003). 

The 1974 team went 31-12 on the year for the most single-season wins at the time and second most today, and concluded the campaign with a trip to the NCAA Division II Mideast Regional. The postseason appearance marked the first-ever for WIU baseball as two layers from the team went on to Major League Baseball ranks in Mantick and Rick Vogel, who earned spots with the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs, respectively.

New Faces | Leatherneck baseball welcomes 15 new faces for the 2020 season - Toby Allred, Johnny Beck, Jack Bell, Aidan Cossio, Gage Cruz, Austin Edwards, Tyler Estes, Jayden Gibson, Adam Juran, David Olejnik, Brian Raymond, Luke Schwartz, Brett Sears, Max Slavens, and Chase VanDerGinst.

Up Next | WIU stays in the south and takes part in the Jackie Robinson Tournament from Feb. 21-23. A three-day slate in Pearl, Miss., features Alcorn State, Florida A&M, Jackson State, North Carolina A&T, and Southern. 
 
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