The baseball team will take on Illinois-Chicago at 5 p.m. CST today after the teams’ first scheduled game was postponed.

CMU swept two games against the Flames last season, winning 8-7 in 10 innings at Theunissen Stadium and 7-5 in Chicago.

“They have a nice ball club and we had two really good games against them last year,” said coach Steve Jaksa.

UIC is coming off a three-game sweep against conference rival Butler. The team is 10-2 this season against Horizon League opponents.

Sophomore shortstop Andy Leonard has made every start for UIC and leads the Flames with a .323 batting average. He has been a tough out for pitchers all season with only six strikeouts in 127 at bats.

Meanwhile, CMU sophomore shortstop Robbie Harman has recorded at least one hit in each of the last five games for CMU.

Jaska said mid-week games serve a different purpose than weekend series.

“We keep our starters fresh with these mid-week games,” Jaksa said. “In baseball, you stay fresh by getting on the field day in and day out.”

Central has struggled in out-of-conference games this season with a 10-12 record against schools outside of the Mid-American Conference.

“Its one league against another,” Jaksa said. “We always want to do well against other conferences. We want to see where you rank nationally as a conference.”

Freshman Rick Dodridge likely will get the start for the Chippewas. Dodridge was named MAC West Pitcher of the Week after getting a win against in-state rival Michigan. He pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed only one earned run. The win boosted his record to 2-2 on the season.

“It gets us a chance to see our four or five pitcher who might be on the verge of jumping into our top three,” Jaksa said. “In the conference tournament, we rely on those pitchers outside of the top three. Or if somebody is looking like they can compete for a starting spot, you want to give them that opportunity in a mid-week game to see what they can do.”

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