FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Apr. 16, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball squad returns to life on the road, heading to the Land of Lincoln to face Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division foe University of Illinois Springfield in a four game set beginning on Friday. The Rangers were originally slated to begin the week today with a twinbill against Lewis University before the doubleheader was pushed back a week due to poor field conditions at Oberbruner Field.
 
The Rangers and Prairie Stars begin the series on Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. before closing the series the following day with another two game set beginning at noon.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (8-21, 6-16 GLVC) hits the road after opening up its home slate last weekend against 18th-ranked University of Southern Indiana. The Rangers capitalized on a passed ball in the eighth inning of game one, stealing a 3-2 victory on April 11 at Oberbruner Field before the Screaming Eagles seized game two by a 9-3 score.
 
Joseph Plaud secured the win on the mound for the Rangers in game one, striking out three over the final 2 2/3 innings in relief of John Perez.
 
On Saturday, torrential rain moved the series from an afternoon twinbill at Oberbruner to a late night doubleheader at the artificial turf at Augie Schmidt Field on the campus of Carthage College. Despite a gem from freshman lefthander Mario Samuel, the Rangers fell 2-1 in the opener before succumbing 7-0 in game two to close the series.
 
Samuel struck out seven in the complete game loss, yielding just one earned run.
 
Offensively, Eric DuCharme paces the Rangers, owning a .308 batting average with five extra base hits and 12 RBIs. DJ Peltz is hitting .297 while Zach Cunningham sports a .293 average with a team-best 13 RBIs.
 
On the mound, Plaud owns a team-best 2.90 earned run average with 21 strikeouts in 31 innings of work. Cole Croncke sports a 4.38 ERA with 23 punchouts while Samuel leads the team in both innings pitched (45 1/3) and complete games (four). Fellow freshman Josh Serio leads the team in strikeouts with 20 in 44 2/3 innings of action.
 
About the Prairie Stars: Illinois Springfield (19-15, 11-11 GLVC) heads into Friday's doubleheader looking to snap a three-game slide. UIS edged Lewis University 12-11 in the series opener on April 11 in Romeoville before stumbling 4-3 in game two. The host Flyers emerged with a sweep the next day, winning by scores of 11-4 and 13-12.
 
The Prairie Stars have been tough to beat at home, owning an 8-2 record inside the UIS Baseball Field.
 
Anchoring the the team's offense is Jared Massengill who sports a .424 batting average with nine extra base hits and 20 RBIs. Luke Stewart is hitting .262 with 15 RBIs and 10 stolen bases while Logan Frye is hitting .333. Alex Bradley owns a team best 31 RBIs with 13 extra base knocks.
 
David Mead leads the team on the mound with a 1.71 earned run average in 21 innings of work and a team-high 30 strikeouts. Barry Arnett is the workhorse on the staff, logging a team-high 48 innings on the mound with 28 strikeouts and a 3.94 ERA.

Battle for Wisconsin: The Badger State's only two scholarship baseball programs will meet on Tuesday, Apr. 22 at Simmons Field in Kenosha when the Rangers square off against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. First pitch for the single game is slated for 6 p.m.