2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball moves games to Sunday, Monday
Jon Oakley
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports
|
Western Illinois (7-18, 1-3 Summit) will manipulate the starting times and dates of the series in an attempt to squeeze the games around this weekend's soggy weather and not lose these home games to the rain. Currently, the games have been changed to two doubleheaders, the first Sunday starting at noon and the second Monday beginning at 11 a.m.
IPFW (6-18-1, 2-2 Summit) has lost three straight games and was blown out 24-6 by Ball State Tuesday. Besides hosting an IPFW squad that may be shaken by recent struggles, Leathernecks coach Stan Hyman said he feels Western has an advantage in both pitching and hitting.
"We need to get these four games in," Hyman said. "We match up well against IPFW. They aren't a team that is traditionally going to out-slug you. It should be a low-scoring series. We need to play them, and we need to get our starters some run support, and I feel confident against the IPFW staff. We will match up well."
Western's starting pitching has been the rock of the team, racking up four complete games this year. They will face a Mastodons lineup that has only two batters hitting more than .300 and overall, has struggled to score runs consistently.
The projected 'Necks starters for Sunday are junior Eric Eden (3-2, 2.87 ERA) in Game 1 and senior Travis Tolsma (1-4, 3.55 ERA) in Game 2. Monday's doubleheader will feature senior Mark DiBernardo (1-4, 615 ERA) in Game 3 and junior Ben Percival (1-3, 3.74 ERA) in the final game of the series.
The match-ups seem to favor the 'Necks' deep pitching, but you cannot win a game 0-0. The Leatherneck offense has struggled and wasted several solid pitching performances this season. The answer may come from a new outlook by the coaching staff.
"I want to put guys out there that right now look like they are going to be the most consistent," Hyman said. "I think we are going to put in the most offensive lineup, the lineup that has most possibility to score runs. For us right now, the best defense would be a good offense to keep us in these games."
Be the first to comment on this story