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 "We're excited for conference play to start," Redbird baseball
coach Mark Kingston said. "This is a tremendous league, and we begin
with a very hot team in Indiana State. It should be a great
challenge."
Illinois State (16-6, 0-0 MVC) has won three straight games, and six
of its last seven. The Sycamores (21-5, 2-1 MVC) have won 16 of
their last 17, including three in a row. Indiana State had a 13-game
winning streak snapped by Evansville in its MVC series opener last
weekend. The Sycamores took two out of three games against the
Purple Aces in Evansville, Ind.
Indiana State also won two midweek games, against Illinois
Springfield and Ball State. Meanwhile, the Redbirds won both of
their nonconference matchups last weekend, versus MacMurray and
Webster. Illinois State is coming off a 16-7 come-from-behind
victory against Illinois on Tuesday.
Ty Wiesemeyer continues to lead Illinois State's offense with a .405
average, including a team-best .495 on-base percentage. Kevin Tokarski had a seven-RBI performance Tuesday, including a grand slam,
to give Illinois State the lead against Illinois. Tokarski also tied
the career runs record Wednesday with his 184th run scored. With at
least one more run at Indiana State, he will surpass Seth Von Behren
for the record. Tokarski also needs to walk one more time to tie the
career walks mark set by Ryan Duncheon.
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Indiana State's offense is led by Jeremy Lucas, who is batting
.404 with a team-high 34 RBIs, including six home runs, four doubles
and one triple. Illinois State will counter the Sycamores with the
weekend pitching combination of Chris Razo (3-1, 6.16 ERA), Brad
Sorkin (1-1, 4.25 ERA) and Dylan Craig (4-0, 4.76 ERA),
respectively. Indiana State will answer with Dakota Bacus (4-1, 1.69
ERA), Sean Manaea (2-1, 4.58 ERA) and Ryan Torgerson (4-0, 1.96
ERA).
[Text
from John
Twork, graduate assistant in athletics communications, Illinois
State University]
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