Saluki Baseball to Face Southeast Missouri State
04/30/2001 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 17, 2001
Southern Illinois University Carbondale (14-21, 8-12 MVC) will travel to Cape Girardeau, Missouri to face area rival Southeast Missouri State University in a non-conference game on Wednesday, April 18 at 3 p.m.
The Salukis lost three of four one run games against Illinois State University last weekend. SIU won the series finale and Saluki head coach Dan Callahan hopes it leads to improved play against SEMO.
"I hope winning the series finale helps us and gets the guys going. It seems like we've had midweek games against SEMO, Murray State and other schools where we just don't play," Callahan said. "Everyone is just worried about the conference games and nothing midweek. Last time we played SEMO we played very lethargically, it was embarrassing and they just took it to us."
SEMO easily beat SIU 11-5 on April 4. A Saluki win over the Indians would provide a little momentum for SIU's important weekend series with SMS.
"We need some momentum. It would be nice to have a two game winning streak with Southwest Missouri State University coming in here next weekend," Callahan stated.
SIU was outhit 15 to 10 in the last meeting against SEMO. The Indians scored in all but two of nine innings. The Salukis lost two high scoring games against the Indians in 2000 despite a .342 average and will likely have to hit better than their .281 average against Illinois State. SIU also left 32 runners on base over the weekend.
Justin Maurath (.342) leads SIU in hitting. Roman Schooley (.336) is on a 17 game hitting streak and Luke Nelson (.336), Scott Hankey (.319) and Greg Andrews (.300) have been swinging the bat well for the Salukis. The Salukis are hitting .278 after the weekend. SIU's team era sits at 6.19. Closer Scott Lucht leads the way with a 4-2 record and 2.67 era.
SEMO has won seven out of its last nine games. The Indians are hitting .299 and have a staff era of 3.81. Clemente Bonilla leads SEMO with a .435 average and Todd Pennington is 7-1 with a 1.07 era.
SIU has a 34-15 lead in the series against Southeast Missouri State, including a 3-6 record under Dan Callahan.
After the SEMO game, SIU will host Southwest Missouri State for a four game series on April 20-22 at Abe Martin Field.