GAME DAY LINKS --
McKENDREE at ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD
Friday, March 25, 2016, Noon (DH) | LIVE STATS
Saturday, March 26, 2016, Noon (DH) | LIVE STATS
McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD SEASON STATISTICS
GLVC BASEBALL HOME PAGE
(LEBANON, Ill., March 23)--The McKendree University baseball team will step into Great Lakes Valley Conference play this weekend with a four-game series at the University of Illinois Springfield. The Bearcats and Prairie Stars will play doubleheaders Friday and Saturday, with first pitch set for noon each day.
The GLVC changed the format of league play beginning this season. For all schools, games against divisional opponents will be the only contests that will count towards the conference standings. That will give all 16 conference schools a total of 28 games in GLVC play (seven league weekends with a four-game series format).
McKendree enters the weekend with a season-high four-game win streak. The Bearcats are 8-11 overall, winning five of six games last week to close out a 12-game home stand at Hypes Field. McKendree ended the week by sweeping GLVC West Division opponent Rockhurst University, rallying in all three contests to earn the wins. The Bearcats flexed their offensive muscles against the Hawks, posting 29 runs on 41 hits in the weekend sweep.
Thanks to its offensive production last week, McKendree has jumped to fifth among all GLVC schools in batting average at .308. The Bearcats have rapped out 192 base hits, which ranks fourth in the conference, while the team's 13 home runs through 19 games matches the entire season total of the 2015 squad. Six regulars in the McKendree lineup are hitting over .300, led by junior first baseman
Keith Rogers (Marshall, IL/Marshall) at .431. Rogers also leads the Bearcats with 15 runs batted in and is tied with junior outfielder
Grant Anderson (Mackinaw, IL/Deer Creek-Mackinaw) for the team lead with four home runs. Anderson, in addition to a .308 batting average, paces the team with nine extra-base hits (four doubles, one triple and four homers). Junior infielder
Isaac Fisher (Washington, IL/Washington) has scored a team-best 14 runs.
On the mound, senior left-hander
Josh Tonozzi (Mark, IL/Putnam County) and junior right-hander
Ryan Cates (Anderson, IN/Yorktown) share the team lead with two victories. Tonozzi, who led the Bearcats' staff with 21 appearances a year ago, has already seen action in nine games in 2016, going 2-0 with a 3.06 earned-run average. He has struck out 16 batters, which is tied for second. Junior righty
Matt Henning (Wichita, KS/Bishop Carroll), who is tied with Tonozzi by pitching in nine games in his closer's role, has earned three saves including a pair last week against Maryville and Rockhurst.
ABOUT ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELDThe Prairie Stars are 6-8 overall in 2016. Illinois Springfield has won just once in six home games at UIS Baseball Field with a 3-2 triumph over Missouri S&T on March 12 to its credit. The Prairie Stars are led by sophomore outfielder Kenny Hansen, who is batting a team-best .405. Senior second baseman Adam Warda leads UIS with four home runs while adding a .325 batting average and eight RBI. Sophomore Gabriel Acevedo shows the way with nine runs batted in. Four Prairie Star regulars are batting above the .300 mark entering this weekend's action.
UIS brings one of the league's top ERAs into the weekend against McKendree. The Prairie Stars have a collective 3.26 earned-run average. Senior Chance Simpson has a 2-0 record on the mound with a team-low 1.31 ERA through three starts. Simpson is tied for the team lead with 13 strikeouts. Senior Matt Farrington has already started for games for Illinois Springfield and has matched Simpson by fanning 13 batters. At the back end of the UIS bullpen is senior Richard England, who has two saves among his six relief appearances.
In 2015, the Prairie Stars swept all four meetings against the Bearcats. UIS took both ends of a doubleheader in Springfield, Ill., on April 1, 12-4 and 7-4. UIS then completed the sweep April 14 at Hypes Field by taking both games by identical scores of 4-2.
WHAT'S NEXTMcKendree will play its first two conference weekends on the road. After its visit to UIS, the Bearcats will be in Louisville, Ky., April 2-3 for a four-game set at Bellarmine University. McKendree will play its next home game on April 6 with a non-conference contest versus Maryville University. The University of Indianpolis will be McKendree's first GLVC home opponent of the year April 9-10.
