Fresh off their third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference series win, the Eastern baseball team will make a roadtrip to Chicago to face Illinois-Chicago Tuesday.

Eastern has gone 4-0 against Illinois schools this year with wins against Olivet Nazarene, Chicago State, Western Illinois and Northern Illinois. However, Illinois-Chicago may be the best of the bunch as they enter play with a 23-11 overall record including a 6-2 mark in the Horizon League.

The Flames are led by their solid No. 2 and 3 hitters of Mike Hughes and Nelson Gord.

Hughes, a senior outfielder and catcher, has a team-high nine home runs and 44 RBIs in 44 games. With a batting average of .358, Hughes is off of last year’s .381 season, but the Palatine native already has more home runs and RBIs this year in 13 fewer games.

Gord, a senior infielder is near the top of Flames’ batters with a .324 clip. The Buffalo Grove graduate has yet to go yard this season, but he is one of the toughest hitters in the Flames lineup. He has fanned just 18 times in 108 at-bats.

Joining Hughes and Gord as a productive hitter in the lineup is second baseman Bryan Russo. The junior was a career .294 hitter coming into this season but he has been red hot at the plate this year hitting over .400.

Russo is third on the team in hits and home runs, with 48 and five respectively, but he leads the Flames with nine doubles on the year.

Eastern will look to ride the hot bat of David Chacon to victory at Les Miller Field. Chacon, a role player turned starter, had his biggest game of the year this past Saturday against Samford with six RBIs in game two of the doubleheader against the Bulldogs. For the year, Chacon is hitting over .280 with four home runs in 28 games.

If Eastern is to pull off the upset there’s a good bet freshman Ryan Campbell will play an instrumental part.

The third baseman has been Eastern’s best hitter all season long with a batting average of .364 going into Tuesday’s game. Campbell also is tops in home runs (five) and RBIs (26) on the Panther team.

First pitch at Les Miller Field is set for 7:05 p.m.