Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Host Indiana State In Crucial MVC Series
05/09/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 9, 2002
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Carbondale, Ill. - Southern Illinois University (27-18, 12-12 MVC) will host its final Missouri Valley Conference series this weekend against fourth place Indiana State University (24-20, 12-11 MVC) at Abe Martin Field.
The fifth place Salukis, trailing the Sycamores by one game in the loss column, have a chance to move into fourth place and possibly third with a strong weekend.
"This is a big series. We want to win at least three of four at home this weekend. We haven't played consistent baseball all year in MVC play to be in position to win a series week in and week out and that's been our downfall. We have to be more consistent this weekend if we hope to win the series," said SIU head coach Dan Callahan.
"Our goal was to finish in the top three and the league coaches picked us to finish eighth. We still have to prove we are a good team and with eight games left it would be a good time to get on a roll and have a strong weekend."
Indiana State has lost four straight but Callahan says that doesn't matter since the Sycamores are a very capable team, winning ten of twelve games, including a 3-0 sweep of Illinois State two weeks ago.
"They were playing well a couple weeks ago so we can't think about them losing the last four games. We haven't had a pitcher or hitter really carry us through a series since Jeff Stanek did that offensively (.750) against Creighton five weeks ago. Earlier this season we had three or four pitchers and hitters each weekend carry us and lately we haven't had that luxury. We have to pitch better and get multiple guys swinging the bat well," added Callahan.
SIU split last year's series 2-2 behind the hitting of Scott Hankey (.438), Luke Nelson (.375) and Greg Andrews (.300) in Terre Haute, Ind. The 2002 Salukis are led by Ross Kowzan (.380), Jeff Stanek (.353) and Toby Barnett (.344) at the plate and Jake Alley (5-3, 3.51) and Ryan Welch (4-2, 3.83) on the mound. SIU is fourth in MVC fielding (.959) and fifth in hitting (.288) and pitching (5.58 era). Overall, SIU hits .302 with a 4.63 era.
Indiana State is third in MVC defense (.963), fourth in pitching (5.23) and seventh in hitting (.287). The Sycamores are led by Kevin Egli (.363), Jamie Baker (.361) and Caleb Reger (.342) at the plate. Greg Wear (5-4, 4.79) and Mitch Stetter (4-5, 3.36) lead ISU on the mound. The Sycamores are hitting .294 with a 4.40 era overall.
Southern Illinois will play a single game on Friday at 3 p.m., a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m. and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Saturday the seniors will be honored between games and the SIU baseball team awards will be announced. It will also be a Saluki t-shirt day. The first 150 fans will be given a ticket to redeem a free t-shirt following the first game of the doubleheader against Indiana State.
