Baseball

Indiana St. (14-10, 1-3) at Northern Iowa (12-13, 2-4)

Games: Today, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.

Where: Waterloo (Riverfront Stadium)

Radio/Internet: KQMG, 95.3 FM/www.unipanthers.com

Last time out: Indiana State hasn't played in a week after having two of its three games against Illinois State last weekend called off. The Sycamores dropped the one game in that series, 11-6. UNI, meanwhile, is coming off a pair of mid-week wins over Clarke College (9-6) and 25th-ranked Minnesota (9-7).

Series: Indiana State leads 40-26, but UNI won two out of three last season in Terre Haute.

Probable pitching matchups (ISU listed first): Today (Eric Valdes, 1-2, 4.98 ERA vs. Nick Kirk, 3-1, 2.30); Saturday (Jacob Petricka, 2-1, 5.26 ERA vs. Derek Ott, 1-2, 5.23); Sunday (Joe Rodriguez, 2-1, 7.67 ERA vs. Carlos Pinedo, 1-3, 6.58).

Series notes: UNI has six players hitting over .300 and Brett Douglas is batting .299. Juco transfer Travis Bennett is first in the Valley in RBIs (28) and doubles (11) along with sporting a team-best .375 average. UNI ace Nick Kirk has struck out 42 batters in 43 innings and opponents are hitting just .222 against him. The Panthers, who have lost four one-run games in league play, are last in the MVC in fielding and have committed 46 errors in 25 games. … Indiana State started the season 9-1, but has dropped nine of its last 14. The Sycamores are hitting .305 for the year with 25 home runs, including four players with four or more long balls. Luke Fieser is batting a team-best .403, while Brady Shoemaker (.378, 4 HRs, 21 RBIs) and Nick Ciolli (.343, 4 HRs, 23 RBIs) are the team's top run producers. The Sycamores are eighth in the MVC in ERA at 6.18.

Quoting UNI head coach Rick Heller:

"In my mind, Indiana State was the up and coming team in our league this year. I felt like they had a lot of guys back and were very dangerous offensively. They've played really good in the non-conference, but struggled so far in conference play. I think they'll be fighting for their lives this weekend, so it should be a good series."

Around the Valley this weekend: Missouri State (3-0) at Southern Illinois (3-3); Creighton (5-1) at Evansville (2-4); Illinois State (3-1) at Wichita State (1-0); North Dakota at Bradley.

In the hole: UNI is scheduled to host South Dakota State at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

- Compiled by Matt Coss, Courier Sports Writer