Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Heads to No. 11 Wichita State
04/15/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 15, 2004
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois (10-19-1, 5-6-1) faces its fourth nationally-ranked opponent this season when it travels to league-leading and No. 11 Wichita State (20-6, 12-0) for a four-game series beginning Friday at 7 p.m. The Shockers are a near-perfect 11-1 at home on the year.
To say the least, WSU has owned the conference race thus far with its flawless 12-0 mark. The Shockers, who rank as high as 11th in two polls - Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America - lead the Valley in several offensive and pitching categories this season.
SIU, who is 1-11 against top-25 opponents this season, enters the weekend on a two-game winning streak after recently beating Murray State, 11-5, on Wednesday. The Salukis are led by Nathan Emrick who is hitting .374 with 24 runs scored, five doubles and 16 RBI. Emrick's .374 average ranks seventh-best in the league. Senior Nathan Boldt follows with a .339 clip which includes 17 runs scored, four doubles, a home run and 11 RBI.
The Saluki offense, which is hitting .277 on the year will go up against WSU's red-hot pitching staff that holds a league-leading 3.06 ERA with 205 strikeouts to just 68 walks. Friday's starting right-hander Mike Pelfrey, MVC Freshman of the Year and a first-team Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America a year ago, is 4-0 with a 2.28 ERA. Pelfrey also tops the Shockers with with a 47:13 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Other Shocker hurlers scheduled to throw this weekend are left-hander Steve Uhlmansiek, right-hander Mat Jakubov and southpaw Kris Johnson. Uhlmansiek sports a 5-0 record with a 2.10 ERA, Jakubov is 3-1 with 22 strikeouts to just three walks and Johnson is a perfect 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA.
Offensively, WSU is just as impressive. Topping the MVC in batting average (.332), slugging percentage (.516), on-base percentage (.420) and home runs (32), the Shockers have seven players hitting .337 or better. Logan Sorensen spearheads the group with a .382 mark which includes 30 runs scored, 13 doubles, three home runs and 34 RBI. Drew Moffitt, who was named this week's MVC Player of the Week is also among the seven with a .337 clip, including a team-leading 13 long balls.
SIU trails its overall series against WSU, 23-70. Last year, WSU won the four-game series, 3-1, in Carbondale. The Salukis then knocked the Shockers into the loser's bracket in the MVC Tournament, but WSU regrouped to beat SIU twice in the championship round to clinch the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. WSU has given SIU the most trouble of any opponent in the MVC.
Winning just 23 games in 93 meetings, the Salukis have never won a four-game series against the Shockers. In 2002, SIU split a four-game set for the first time since 1987, but that was as close to a series win as the Salukis would get in recent years. The Salukis are 8-31, 1-6 (MVC Tournament) all-time under head coach Dan Callahan.
Also, in addition to beating the Shockers in the league's postseason tournament a year ago, the last time SIU defeated WSU at Eck Stadium was in 2002, where the Dawgs registered a 4-3 win in 14 innings.
Left-hander Eric Haberer will open the series on the mound for SIU. Haberer is 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA and holds a second-best 22 strikeouts in 37.1 innings.
Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's single game are the only matchups between SIU and WSU broadcast live on WCIL 1020 AM this weekend.
