LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University baseball (1-2) is on the road once again, taking on the RiverHawks of Northeastern State (6-2) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma at Rousey Field. The Bearcats are coming off a series-closing, 10-5 win against Harding on February 12 in Searcy, Arkansas, which gave the Bearcats their first victory of the spring. This will be the final road series prior to the Bearcats opening up Hypes Field with non-conference series at home.
McKendree this Season
The Bearcats own a 1-2 record this year after dropping the opening double-header to the Bison on February 11. McKendree then came back with a strong win in the final matchup of the series.
At the plate, McKendree has been led by senior outfielder
Corey Price and freshman
Gavin Arseneau, who have both hit .500 or better in three games. Price owns a batting average of .571 in 14 at-bats with eight hits, an OPS of 1.285, slugging of .714, and an on-base of .571. Arseneau sits narrowly behind Price with an average of .500 on 12 at bats, amassing an OPS of 1.288 with six RBIs and one homerun. The freshman owns slugging of .750 and an on-base of .538. The Bearcats also have three more above-.300 hitters behind senior infielder
Joseph Costanzo (.333 BA, .885 OPS, four hits), sophomore infielder
Dalton Hoel (.333 BA, .666 OPS, three hits), and senior infielder
Alex Steinbach (.300 BA, 1.162 OPS, three hits).
On the mound, the sole win for McKendree went to sophomore right-hander
Ryan Drayer, who tossed five innings with a 3.60 ERA and a WHIP of .80 to help lead McKendree to its first win of the season. Overall, the McKendree pitching staff has collected 21 strikeouts in 23.0 innings pitched as Drayer leads with seven strikeouts of his own on an opponent average of .200.
Scouting the RiverHawks
The Bearcats take on a Northeastern State (6-2) squad that owns a five-game winning streak after opening the season 1-2, beating Southern Nazarene in a four-game stretch and Southeastern Oklahoma in a once-off matchup. During the streak, the RiverHawks have out-scored opponents 47-14.
Northeastern State has seven batters with a BA above .300 and is led by C.D. White and Blake Freeman. White has hit at a clip of .472 on 36 at-bats while Freeman has a .438 average on 32 attempts. Brock Reller leads the RiverHawks with 12 RBIs while White owns 10 this year. The pitching staff for NSU is led by Seth Key (2-0) and Jonathan Smithey (1-1) as Key owns a 0.90 ERA with a WHIP of 1.70 and Smithey recording a 1.59 ERA and .88 WHIP.
This will be the first time Northeastern State and McKendree have face off.
WEEKEND SERIES | Tahlequah, Oklahoma | Rousey Field:
Friday, February 18 | 1:00 P.M.
Saturday, February 19 (DH) | 12:00 P.M. / 3:00 P.M.
Sunday, February 20 | 12:00 P.M.
