Live Audio | Live Stats | Live Video

NORMAL, Ill. -- With Mid-American Conference play approaching, the Central Michigan baseball team heads to Illinois State for a four-game weekend series at Duffy Bass Field, starting on Friday.

Weather has already affected the schedule for the weekend, with forecasted rain on Saturday pushing the scheduled doubleheader to Friday. Single games are still scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The action each day will start at 1 p.m., CT.

The Redbirds (6-8, 0-0 Missouri Valley) and Chippewas (6-6, 0-0 MAC) have not faced each other since 2006, when the two programs split a four-game series at ISU.

CMU has won back-to-back games to snap a four-game skid. The Maroon and Gold enter the series hitting .275 and averaging 5.8 runs per game. Billy Anderson leads the way with a .400 batting average, seven extra-base hits and 10 stolen bases. Dale Cornstubble has knocked in a team-high 11 runs.

The Chippewas' pitching staff enters the week with a 4.64 ERA, led by Rick Dodridge's 1.93 mark in two starts. Opponent's are batting .292 against the Maroon and Gold.

ISU has won two of its last three heading into the series after dropping five straight. The Redbirds are batting .323 as a team, led by Kevin Tokarski's impressive .551 clip. He has 15 extra-base hits and 19 RBI. Eight players in Illinois State's everyday lineup are batting .300 or better and five have already hit double-figure RBI.

On the mound, the Redbirds have struggled so far in 2010. The pitching staff has an ERA of 7.38, but ace Corey Maines has been impressive with a 2-0 mark and a 2.49 ERA in four starts, including a complete-game shutout.

There will be free live stats and live audio for all four games, and live video on ISU's subscription service. All live events are courtesy of goredbirds.com.

Projected Pitching Match-ups (ISU v CMU)
Corey Maines, Jr., RHP (2-0, 2.49 ERA) vs. Jesse Hernandez, Sr., RHP (1-1, 7.56 ERA)
Ryan Copeland, Sr., LHP (0-2, 8.18 ERA) vs. Trent Howard, So., LHP (1-1, 5.68 ERA)
Ryan Camp, So., RHP (2-2, 8.71 ERA) vs. Jake Sabol, Jr., RHP (2-1, 3.10 ERA)
Brad Sorkin, Fr., RHP (0-1, 7.20 ERA) vs. Rick Dodridge, So., LHP (1-1, 1.93 ERA)