LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University (2-5) baseball kicks off its home slate officially on Friday, March 4-5 with back-to-back double-headers against the Hillsdale Chargers (4-6) of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). The Bearcats will open their home field after the series against Purdue Northwest on February 26-27 was cancelled due to travel issues for the Pride. The series was originally scheduled for March 5-6 against the Chargers but has been moved up one day.

THIS SEASON
The Bearcats have fought through a multitude of tough matchups to begin the season, taking on Harding and Northeastern State to open the year. Both series featured a flurry of scoring from both the Bearcats and their opponents with McKendree taking the third game against Harding (current record 10-3) and Northeastern State (current record 13-3). In the two season-opening series, the Bearcats held a pair of 6-0 leads and a 5-0 lead but were only able to capture two victories in the seven total outings. 

SCOUTING HILLSDALE
The Charges come to Hypes Field following another trip to the St. Louis metro area, dropping its series, 2-1, with McKendree-foe Maryville on February 26-27 in Chesterfield, Missouri. Overall, Hillsdale enters witha 4-6 record this season and began the spring with a pair of wins over Davenport on February 11 in a double-header outing. After beating Northwood in its series opening game, the Charges dropped three-straight to the Timberwolves to stumble in the four-game trip. At-bat, the Charges are led by outfielders Lewis Beals and Aidan Brewer, who both own above-.300 averages and 35+ at-bats so far. Beals is hitting at a .371 clip with an OPS of .924 with 13 hits, seven runs, six RBIs, three doubles, and one triple. Brewer adds on a .333 average with an .832 OPS, tacking on 12 hits, nine runs scored, seven RBIs, and a trio of triples. On the mound, Will Gifford owns a pair of victories behind a 4.20 ERA and 13.90 K/9 (22 total strikeouts) in 15.0 innings tossed over his three appearances. 

At the plate:
The Bearcats have been led by senior outfielder Corey Price, who owns a .500 average with 15 hits in 30 appearances at the plate. Price has amassed an OPS of 1.100 with five RBIs, three doubles, and eight runs scored. Following Price is senior infielder Joseph Costanzo who has 10 hits this spring on 25 attempts (.400 BA), scoring six times with five RBIs, two doubles, and one triple. Freshman infielder Gavin Arseneau and senior infielder Alex Steinbach are just behind Costanzo with batting averages of .346 and .333. Arseneau leads the Bearcats with nine RBIs on nine hits and one home run while Steinbach leads McKendree with an OPS of 1.115 in 24 plate attempts, eight hits, two homers, and six RBIs. Senior outfielder Ryan Hutchinson owns four walks which ties him for the team lead with Steinbach. 

On the mound:
Sophomore pitcher Ryan Drayer and graduate senior Andrew Yancik own the pair of wins for McKendree this year with Drayer taking the win against the Bison of Harding while Yancik collected the win against the RiverHawks of Northeastern State. Drayer, over 5.0 innings of work and one start, owns an ERA of 3.60 with a WHIP of just 0.80. Yancik has tossed 4.1 innings with two total appearances with an ERA of 2.08 and a WHIP of 1.38. 

WEEKEND SLATE
11 A.M. | Friday, March 4 | vs. Hillsdale College Chargers | @ Hypes Field | Lebanon, Illinois (DH Game 1 - 7 Innings)
2 P.M. | Friday, March 4 | vs. Hillsdale College Chargers| @ Hypes Field | Lebanon, Illinois (DH Game 2 - 9 Innings)
11 A.M. | Friday, March 5 | vs. Hillsdale College Chargers | @ Hypes Field | Lebanon, Illinois (DH Game 1 - 7 Innings)
2 P.M. | Friday, March 5 | vs.Hillsdale College Chargers | @ Hypes Field | Lebanon, Illinois (DH Game 2 - 9 Innings)

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