SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars (14-13, 1-3) have moved their Great Lakes Valley Conference home opener against Quincy to Friday with the chance of rain high for Saturday. Illinois Springfield will open up with Quincy University on Friday for games at 2/4 PM before taking on Truman State on Sunday at the same time.

SETTING THE SCENE
The Prairie Stars came off a dominate Florida trip, going 7-1 in the sunshine state. After their spring break trip, UIS opened up the GLVC season at #17 UMSL and Maryville, going 1-3 on the weekend. UIS beat #17 UMSL in the second game of their double header after falling in 10 innings in the opener. Illinois Springfield then fell twice to Maryville to begin the conference season 1-3.

Quincy (7-11, 2-2) have played just 18 games on the season, the fewest of any team in the GLVC. The Hawks also went to Florida, playing ten games and going 5-5 in those contests. Quincy began the GLVC season by splitting with Lewis and then splitting with UW-Parkside as well.

Truman State (19-11, 2-2) opens the weekend in seventh place in the GLVC having split their opening weekend as well, sweeping UW-Parkside before falling to Lewis by scores of 3-2 and 6-5, both in extra innings.

THE LAST TIME…
The last time UIS matched up against Quincy, UIS swept the Hawks on the road, winning 1-0 and 9-4. This was the first conference series of the year in 2016 and saw Jaycee Craver throw 11 shutout innings, giving up just four hits and striking out seven. Truman State then swept UIS, winning 2-0 and 6-1.

UIS is 11-6 all-time against Quincy and 1-8 against Truman State.

HOW THE STARS STACK UP
Truman State enters the weekend with a team batting average of .335, which ranks second in the GLVC. Quincy is batting just under .300, ranking fifth, while the Stars are hitting .255 as a team, ranking 16^th in the GLVC.

However, UIS ranks 9^th in team ERA with a 3.20 mark. Truman State is a tick above at 3.29 while Quincy ranks 16^th with an ERA of 5.58.

Individually, Lakyn Wagoner sits tied for seventh in the league with eight doubles and leads the GLVC with four triples. With 13 walks --- ranking tied for fifth in the league --- Erin Stroup sits just outside the top-ten with a .464 on-base percentage.

Ali Haesele has been dominate in the circle this season, pitching to the tune of a 1.86 earned run average. This puts her eighth in the league while her .217 batting average against sits her fifth. No stranger to strikeouts, Haesele ranks sixth with 69 strikeouts on the season but moves up to fourth with 20 strikeouts looking.

AGAINST LIKE OPPONENTS
Truman State is 9-3 against the same opponents that UIS has played this season, splitting with Ohio Dominican, Saginaw Valley, and Northwood for their three losses. Quincy is 2-3 in games against like opponents.

LOAD EM FOR LAKYN
Lakyn Wagoner has had four at-bats this season with the bases loaded. In those at-bats, Wagoner is 3-for-4, collecting one less hit than the entire rest of the team combined.  Of those three hits, one was a walk-off single against Cedarville while another was a bases clearing triple against Ohio Dominican. Wagoner has six RBI's with the bases loaded on the season.

PINCH HIT EXTRAORDINAIRE   
UIS is 12-for-54 in pinch hit situations this season, good for a .222 average. However, Allison Rose and Wagoner are a combined 7-for-10 in those situations, Rose with a 3-for-5 mark and Wagoner 4-for-5.

SCOUTING QUINCY
Quincy is led on offense by Abby Burton, who is hitting .347 on the season with six extra base hits. The Hawks have four players hitting over .300 for the season and have hit nine home runs on the season. Lindsey Green leads the way with four home runs, seven doubles, and 19 runs batted in.

In the circle, the Hawks have the worst ERA in the GLVC, at 5.58, one of just two teams with an over 5.00 earned run average. Emily Griskell leads the way with 57.0 innings pitched, surrendering 71 hits and 26 walks.

SCOUTING TRUMAN STATE
The Bulldogs have six players on their team that have played and started in all 30 games this season. Their offense, which is second in the league hitting .335 is led by Christa Reisinger who is leading the league with a .545 batting average. Reisinger has seven doubles, two triples, and three home runs on the season, good for 74 total bases, which leads the league.

In the circle, the Bulldogs rely heavily on two arms, Nicolette Simpson and Lauren Dale. Both are 9-4 on the season with a 2.64 and 3.19 ERA, respectively.

COMING UP NEXT
After this weekend, UIS will travel to Lindenwood for a single game on Tuesday before coming back home for six straight games. The Prairie Stars will face Bellarmine and #14 Southern Indiana the following weekend before hosting McKendree for a Tuesday night double header. This will precede 12 consecutive road conference games for the Prairie Stars.