Redbirds battle Navy and Army to wrap up trip

[March 16, 2012]  WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- The Illinois State baseball team will try to stay perfect at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in 2012, as the Redbirds play the final three games of their spring break trip this weekend. ISU (10-5) is scheduled to face Navy (8-7) on Friday at 1 p.m. CT, followed by a doubleheader versus Army (9-4) at 4 p.m. CT Saturday.

"I just want to see solid baseball this weekend," said Illinois State head baseball coach Mark Kingston. "I want to see Chris Razo come out and have a great outing on Friday. I want to see us continue to score a lot of runs, and I want to see our bullpen continue to be lock-down, like it has been."

The Redbirds are coming off midweek losses at No. 10 Miami and at South Florida. ISU had been riding a 10-game winning streak before losing to the Hurricanes.

While Matt Mirabal's 10-game hitting streak also came to an end at USF, Ty Wiesemeyer extended his hitting stretch to 10 against the Bulls, marking the Redbirds' longest active streak. Wiesemeyer is leading the Redbirds with a .411 batting average, including five doubles, 15 runs and 12 RBIs. Meanwhile, Kevin Tokarski needs just five runs to set ISU's career runs record.

Navy is paced by Chance Jones' .378 average, with 13 runs and 21 RBIs. Army's offense is led by JT Watkins, who is hitting .353 with 11 runs, five doubles and 13 RBIs.

Illinois State will once again counter the opposition with right-hander Razo (2-1) on Friday, right-hander Brad Sorkin (1-1) in Saturday's first game and left-hander Dylan Craig (2-0) in Saturday's second game.

The Redbirds are playing Navy and Army for the first time in program history. Both teams are members of the Patriot League.

ISU started competition at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational last weekend with wins against Maine, Western Michigan and Iowa.

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Complete game notes

[Text from file received from Illinois State]