Baseball Host St. Louis In Home Finale Tuesday
05/13/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 13, 2002
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Carbondale, Ill. - Southern Illinois University (30-19, 15-13 MVC) will host its final home game of the 2002 season against St. Louis University (20-26, 10-15 C-USA) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Abe Martin Field.
The Salukis won three of four games against Indiana State last weekend to move into fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings and qualify for the MVC Tournament for the fourth time (1996, 1997, 2000, 2002) in Dan Callahan's eight years at SIU.
Despite clinching a berth in the MVC Tournament with the Sunday 3-1 win, Callahan hopes to use the momentum on Tuesday and not look past the Billikens to the Wichita State series too soon.
"We're playing well and I don't want a letdown for St. Louis. They have some good hitters and beat us 4-2 last year. We can't look past St. Louis to Wichita State. This weekend is an important series, but we have to come ready to play Tuesday," added Callahan.
SIU lost 4-2 at St. Louis in 2001. The Salukis are 3-2 against the Billikens under Callahan and 54-10 all-time.
SIU will start Bill Clayton (2-1, 4.32 era) on Tuesday. SIU has won the last four midweek starts by the sophomore hurler. The Salukis are led by Ross Kowzan (.369), Justin Maurath (.351) and Jeff Stanek (.343) at the plate. SIU is hitting .301 and has a 4.38 era.
St. Louis will counter with Brad Wehrfritz (2-3, 4.97 era). The Billikens are led by Kurt Evans (.333) at the plate and have a .268 team batting average and 4.87 era.
Southern Illinois will end the regular season at Wichita State this weekend with a single game on Friday at 7 p.m., a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m. and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kans.