GAME DAY LINKS --
McKENDREE vs. SAINT JOSEPH'S -- Saturday/Sunday, April 22-23, 2017
Hypes Field -- Lebanon, Ill.
Doubleheaders Each Day Beginning at Noon
WATCH LIVE (Bearcat Sports Network)
LIVE STATS
McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
SAINT JOSEPH'S SEASON STATISTICS
(LEBANON, Ill., April 21)--The McKendree University baseball team will look to avoid the raindrops in the forecast early in the weekend as the Bearcats will play host to Saint Joseph's College in a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series at Hypes Field. The teams are scheduled to play doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday with first pitch set for noon each day.
McKendree enters the weekend with an overall record of 12-25. The Bearcats will look to improve on their 1-15 GLVC slate. McKendree did notch its fourth straight non-conference victory in its last outing on Tuesday by winning a 14-10 slugfest over the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The Bearcats rapped out 14 hits in the effort, including a season-high three home runs at the friendly confines of Hypes Field.
Isaac Fisher (Washington, IL/Washington) led the charge with one of the three round-trippers, finishing the day with two hits and five RBIs.
Brad Groleau (Peru, IL/St. Bede Academy) added a two-run single and solo homer to chip in three runs batted in against the Tritons, while
Hayden Bodine (Washington, IL/Washington) blasted the Bearcats' other circuit shot in the effort. Bodine and
Matt DeLaVega (Lincolnwood, IL/Niles West) each collected two RBIs in Tuesday's win.
Fisher pushed his team-leading batting average to .330 thanks to Tuesday's effort. Groleau extended his team lead in home runs to five, while he is tied with Bodine atop the Bearcats' RBI list with 21.
Matt Wasche (Kansas City, MO/Rockhurst) was the first of four McKendree pitchers in the contest, throwing four innings and allowing just two earned runs to collect his fourth victory of the season. At 4-0, Wasche is the lone member of the Bearcats' staff to enter the weekend with a perfect record.
Following this weekend's series against Saint Joseph's, McKendree will make the short trip to St. Louis to face UMSL for the second time in eight days. The Bearcats and Tritons will square off for the second and final time on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
ABOUT SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE
The Pumas are 25-13 overall this season and sit at 7-9 in GLVC action. Saint Joseph's has won six of its last eight outings, including a 16-2 decision Wednesday at Purdue University-Northwest. The Pumas' program, under the director of 16-year head coach Rick O'Dette, is in its final season of competition as the College announced a temporary closure at the end of the 2016-17 academic year.
Saint Joseph's, which was ranked in the NCAA Division II top 25 poll earlier this season, is led by Riley Benner, who leads the squad with a .408 batting average and 40 RBIs. Benner has also blasted 10 home runs, and is one of three Pumas already in double-digits in the home run column. Jeff Hightower leads Saint Joseph's with 12 round-trippers, while Joshua Handzik is right behind with 11 homers. As a team, the Pumas are third in the GLVC with 46 home runs, and are also third in the league with a .314 batting average.
On the mound, the Pumas have relied on the 1-2 punch of Quinn Snarskis and Tasker Strobel. Snarskis leads the Saint Joseph's staff with five wins, going 5-3 with a 3.28 ERA and a team-best 44 strikeouts. Strobel is 4-2 on the season with a team-best 2.01 ERA to go along with 41 strikeouts. Both Snarskis and Strobel have tossed two complete games in 2017.
Saint Joseph's swept all four games in the 2016 series from McKendree. The final two games of the four-game series last season ended in 3-2 decisions for the Pumas.
