Redbird baseball opens 112th season at Memphis

[February 15, 2013]  MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Illinois State baseball program opens its 112th season of competition with a three-game series at Conference USA foe Memphis. The weekend trip to Tennessee is the first of three consecutive weekends Illinois State visits the Volunteer state. The opener between the Redbirds and the Tigers is slated for 4 p.m. Friday at FedExPark.

The Redbirds open the 2013 season following their third consecutive 30-plus win campaign, as they completed 2012 with a record of 33-19. The Redbirds went 10-9 in Missouri Valley Conference contests, finishing in fourth place. Illinois State returns 21 lettermen from last year’s team, including six starters from an offense that averaged 6.9 runs per game, good for 12th-best in NCAA Division I baseball.

Memphis opens its 100th season of college competition following a 31-28 record last year. The Tigers ended the regular season winning 10 of their final 12 games to qualify for the Conference USA tournament. After winning the first two games in conference tournament play, Memphis fell to Houston and UAB to close their season.

Illinois State is guided by fourth-year head coach Mark Kingston, who earned his 100th career victory in opening-round action of the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference championship. Kingston sports a 101-61 overall record.

The Tigers are led by veteran coach Daron Schoenrock, who is in his ninth season at the helm of the Memphis program. Schoenrock has amassed a 207-250 record at Memphis and is 233-302 overall as a college head coach. Memphis last made an NCAA appearance in 2007.

Senior right-hander Brad Sorkin (4-3, 4.31 ERA in 2012) takes the mound Friday for Illinois State and will face junior lefty Sam Moll (5-5, 3.48 ERA in 2012). Saturday pits sophomore Redbird southpaw Dylan Craig (8-4, 4.84 in 2012) versus Memphis lefty Erik Schoenrock (2-2, 5.33 ERA). The series finale will feature Redbird right-hander Dan Savas (DNP, Redshirt in 2012) versus junior college transfer Alex Gunn (DNP in D-I in 2012).

The weekend games will start Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three will feature a free, live radio broadcast that can be accessed on GoRebirds.com and WJBC.com.

___

Redbird notes

[Text from news release received from Illinois State University]