Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Opens MVC Tourney Against Northern Iowa
05/20/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 20, 2003
Wichita, Kan. - Third-seeded Southern Illinois (27-23, 17-13) opens play at the 2003 ConAgra Foods/Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament against No. 4 Northern Iowa (27-26, 16-15) tomorrow at 11 a.m., as the first round of the six-team event gets underway at Eck Stadium-Home of Tyler Field.
SIU, who arrived in Wichita early Monday evening, had its final practice in preparation for the tournament earlier this afternoon. Following their workout, a couple Salukis appeared to be anxious to start play.
"I'm tired of all the hype surrounding the tournament and I'm just ready to get things going," said first-team all-MVC senior pitcher Jake Alley. "We want to take this year's tournament one game at a time, with our main goal being to get to the championship game."
Shortly after Alley's comment, senior outfielder Ross Kowzan chimed in.
"Just being in Wichita and sitting around really makes me ready to get out there and play," said Kowzan. "The postseason is a new season and I want to go out a winner."
Alley (6-3; 6.90 ERA), who gets the start on the mound against the Panthers tomorrow, enters the first round of the tourney needing four whiffs to become SIU's all-time career strikeout leader. Currently standing with 275 career Ks, the right-hander from Anna, Ill., should be well-rested after a week's break.
And Alley may need all of that rest, as UNI seems to be a much better team than it was when the two squads met back in March. In its close MVC-opening series against UNI on Mar. 21-23, the Salukis swept the Panthers, 4-0, marking their only sweep of a league opponent this season. In fact, three of the four games of the series were decided by one run. Not to mention, Alley had his worst conference outing on the hill against UNI, where he lasted just 4.1 innings. During that span, he gave up five hits (two were home runs) and six runs, while issuing two walks.
Entering Wednesday's matchup, UNI is led by 2003 MVC Player of the Year Adam Boeve, who is one of six Panthers hitting over .300 this season. Hitting a team-leading .376, Boeve registered 63 runs, 18 doubles, four triples, 17 home runs and 67 RBI in 53 starts.
Meanwhile, SIU heads into its tourney debut led by first-team all-MVC catcher Toby Barnett. A senior from Kallaroo, W. Australia, Barnett hits .327 with a team-leading 56 hits and 39 RBI. He also ranks tied for third on the team in doubles (9), and second in home runs (8).
SIU makes its fifth trip to the Valley Tournament under head coach Dan Callahan. Under Callahan, the Salukis are 2-8 in MVC Tournament games. Also, the Dawgs haven't won a conference tournament game since 1997. In addition, SIU has lost its first two games in three of Callahan's previous four MVC Tournament appearances.
If SIU defeats the Panthers, it will face the winner of No. 2 Wichita State (42-24, 19-13) and No. 5 Indiana State (35-20, 15-17) on Thursday at 3 p.m. If the Salukis lose, they will face the winner of No. 1 SMS (33-21, 19-11) and No. 6 Creighton (20-35, 14-17) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
