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Jace Warkentien
Rachael Keating

Oral Roberts Serves as Next Summit League Series

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

The four-game series begins Thursday (April 1) at 3 p.m.

Who | Western Illinois (8-13, 4-4) vs. Oral Roberts (9-14, 2-2) 
When | Thursday (April 1) at 3 p.m. - Friday (April 2) Doubleheader at Noon - Saturday (April 3) at 1 p.m. 
Where | Alfred D. Boyer Stadium - Macomb, Ill. 
Social Media | Twitter + Facebook #TRADITIONofTOUGH

First Pitch | After winning the series vs. South Dakota State last weekend, the Western Illinois baseball team host Oral Roberts to close out a 12-game home stand. 

Experience gameday | On Friday, Western Illinois will be taking over the NCAA baseball Instagram account (@ncaacws) to show what a game at Alfred D. Boyer is like and an inside look at the Leatherneck baseball program. 

Tickets / COVID-19 Protocols | After thorough discussion and consultation with university leaders, Western Illinois Athletics decided to decrease seating at all outdoor events this spring; the change limits entry to family members of student-athletes and staff.  Student-athletes will be permitted to have only their families in attendance, admitted via the player pass list. 

Headlines 
  • Brett Sears tossed a complete-game shutout - 7 IP, 3 H, 3 SO - against South Dakota State on Friday (March 26) to earn his first career Summit League Pitcher of the Week honor. This is the second time a Leatherneck starter has thrown a complete-game shutout -  Chandler Fochs (March 13 vs. Saint Louis), who also earned SL POW. 
  • Chase VanDerGinst knocked the two-out walk-off hit for the series victory over SDSU on Sunday (March 28). It marked the first series win this season and last at home since 2019 vs. Omaha.
  • Both Toby Allred and Trenton Bauer hit .400 over the weekend. Bauer leads the team in batting average (.329), hits (26), and RBI (15). The senior ranks seventh in RBI and both fourth in hits and average in the Summit.
  • Brian Raymond struck out a career-high 10 batters in the series finale on Sunday vs. SDSU, only five behind second all-time last set by Dustin Hunter (2012) vs. Fort Wayne.
  • Jack Carberry threw a hitless and shutout performance -3.2 IP and 3 SO -  vs. the Jackrabbits on Saturday (March 27) to earn his first victory of the season.   
  • Western's rotation this weekend is scheduled for Chandler Fochs, Brett Sears, Jace Warkentien, and Brian Raymond.
  • Kevin Raisbeck has continued to bat over .300 all season, he ranked in the top ten in multiple categories in the league - 4th in stolen bases (9), 7th in average (.309), 8th in hits (25), and 9th in OBP (.391) and runs (15). 
  • In 2019, WIU handed Oral Roberts, a four-time league champion, its first-ever sweep in league play in Macomb. 
  • ORU leads the all-time series 78-16 with the Leathernecks taking the 2019 overall series 5-1.
Scouting the Opposition | The 18-time Summit League Tournament Champions enter Macomb with a 9-14 record and 2-2 mark in league play… ORU split their opening league series vs. NDSU last weekend… the Golden Eagles notably took the series at No. 8 at LSU… outfielder Blake Hall shared the league weekly honor with Sears as he batted .444 against the Bison.   

Last Time Out | Chase VanDerGinst led Western Illinois (8-13, 4-4) at the plate as he knocked the walk-off hit in the ninth for the series victory over South Dakota State (7-13, 2-6) on Sunday (March 28). 
 
The ninth inning started off with a Kevin Raisbeck double down the right-field line, and then a sac bunt from Luke Schwartz moved the winning run to third. After a groundout, VanDerGinst roped a two-out single for his third hit of the day and the walk-off.
 
In his second start of the season, Brian Raymond struck out a career-high ten batters and retired the Jacks in order three times. The mark was five behind second all-time in a game, last set by Dustin Hunter (2012) vs. Fort Wayne. 
 
Western erased a three-run homer in the seventh with a five-run burst led by RBI singles from Toby Allred and Trenton Bauer. The Leathernecks scored three separate runs on wild pitches. The two-hit performance was Bauer's sixth of the season to total his team-leading 26th hit and eight-game hit streak. 
 
The Jackrabbits used the long ball again in the eighth to tie 5-5. Austin Edwards (1-2) pitched a scoreless ninth en route to his first career victory.

On Deck | Western Illinois heads to North Dakota State next weekend (April 9-110 for the first Summit League road series.
 
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