Baseball Heads to Middle Tennessee Over Spring Break
03/14/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 14, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
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CARBONDALE, Ill.-Currently on a three-game winning streak, Southern Illinois (10-6) hits the road to play Middle Tennessee State (7-5) during its spring break this week. The Salukis and Blue Raiders play Tuesday and Wednesday, with both games starting at 3 p.m., CST.
After SIU's pair of matchups against MTSU this week, the Salukis will have played six games in seven days.
Broadcast Information
Both games between SIU and MTSU can be heard live on the internet at goblueraiders.com. Live stats can also be accessed on-line. .
Series History
SIU and MTSU's all-time series stands even at 1-1. Both teams met twice in 1993, where the Blue Raiders won, 10-3, and the Salukis won, 7-5.
The Coaches
Dan Callahan (Quincy College, `81; SIU, `87) is 261-305-1 in his 11th season at the helm of the Saluki Baseball program. Callahan guided the Dawgs to the MVC Tournament Championship game in each of the last two seasons.
Steve Peterson (Jacksonville State, `73) is 549-431-2 in his 18th season at MTSU.
Scouting the Blue Raiders
MTSU finished at 40-22 last season, and won a share of the Sun Belt's regular-season title, before losing to Birmingham Southern in the elimination game of the Athens (Ga.) Regional.
Sporting an overall record of 7-5, the Blue Raiders have lost three of their last five games, including a 2-1 series loss to Jacksonville State this past weekend.
Hitting .314 as a team, MTSU is averaging one homer per game, as Nate Jaggers leads the Blue Raiders in batting average (.385), runs scored (14), home runs (4) and RBI (17). Jaggers is one of six Blue Raiders hitting .310 or better.
On the mound, MTSU boasts a 4.46 ERA as a staff, and is led by Matt Scott and Eric Blevins. Scott is a perfect 3-0 in four starts, while Blevins tops the Blue Raiders with 19 strikeouts in 22.1 innings.
Finigan Has Huge Week
Senior shorstop/pitcher P.J. Finigan (Springfield, Ill.) had one of the most dominating performances in Saluki Baseball history when he posted a career-high 17 strikeouts in seven innings of a 8-0 shutout versus Chicago State on Mar. 12.
Finigan struck out every Cougar hitter at least once, as his outs didn't come in any other fashion until the fifth inning.
Falling just three Ks from breaking SIU's all-time single-game strikeout mark (19 by Ed Walter vs. St. Louis on April 4, 1963), Finigan polished off his outing by retiring nine straight to improve his record to 2-1 on the year.
Also a shortstop, Finigan hit .400 (4-for-10) with five runs scored and one RBI to go along with a pair of stolen bases.
For his efforts, Finigan was named both MVC Pitcher of the Week and Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week.
Bruise Brothers
SIU's three and four hitters Matt Brewer (Springfield, Ill.) and Grant Gerrard (Castle Rock, Colo.) are off to a stellar start for the Salukis.
Brewer, who hits a second-best .368 on the team, leads the MVC in both doubles (10) and RBI (21), while tying for second in home runs (3).
Gerrard currently hits .348 with both a team and league-leading five home runs. He also ranks second in the Valley with 20 RBI.
The tandem has combined for 49 hits, including 15 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 41 RBI in 16 games this season.
Mr. Clean-Up
SIU's clean-up hitter, Grant Gerrard (Castle Rock, Colo.) hit .471 (8-for-17) with four consecutive multiple-hit outings to lead the Dawgs to a 3-1 record last week.
Half of his hits went for extra bases, as Gerrard registered three doubles to go along with his team and league-leading fifth home run.. He also scored four runs and had four RBI.
Gerrard went 2-for-4 with a double at SE Missouri State on Mar. 10 before capping his impressive week by hitting .462 (6-for-13) with four runs, a pair of doubles, one home run and three RBI in three games against Chicago State (Mar. 11-13).
Currently on a seven-game hitting streak, where he collected two hits in all but two of those outings, Gerrard has hit safely in 15 of SIU's 16 games on the year.
Hit, Hit, Hurray
SIU pounded out 12 or more hits in over half its games this season, and as a result, the Salukis are 10-1 when out-hitting opponents.
Hitting .291 as a team, the Dawgs registered a season-high of 15 hits against Northern Illinois on Mar. 5. Most recently, however, SIU had a total of 34 hits in three games against Chicago State (Mar. 11-13).
Averaging 10.3 hits a game, SIU's .291 average ranks third in the MVC behind Bradley (.309) and Wichita State (.303).
Extra, Extra! Bases, That Is
SIU has either doubled, tripled or homered in all but one of its games this season.
Currently with 37 doubles, four triples and 13 home runs, the Salukis' season-total of 54 extra-base hits stand as the second-most in the Valley behind Creighton's 59.
The Dawgs' 37 doubles and 13 round-trippers rank second among league foes, while their four triples are third.
SIU posted a season-high of four doubles on three occasions this season, with the last being at New Orleans on Feb. 20. Coincidentally, the Dawgs' season-best of three home runs also came in that game.
What About Pitching?
Seniors Bryan Rueger (Mt. Vernon, Ind.) and Jason Chavez (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) are expected to start on the mound against MTSU.
Rueger dropped his first decision of the season last week against SE Missouri State (Mar. 10).
In his first midweek start of the year, Rueger worked 4.2 innings, where he scattered eight hits and struck out two against the Redhawks. Prior to Thursday, Rueger made three starts on Friday and one on Sunday as part of SIU's weekend rotation.
Rueger is 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA. In 30 innings, he has struck out a second-best 19 and walked 12.
Wednesday's starter, Chavez, is 2-2 with a 5.57 ERA. He, too, has made four starts on weekends.
In his last outing, Chavez scattered three hits and posted three strikeouts in five innings against Chicago State on Mar. 11.
Additionally, Chavez's 13 strikeouts this season rank third on the team, respectively.
SIU pitching is 6-1 in games, where its starter goes six or more innings.
Taming the Cougars
SIU pitching turned in a pair of shutouts, a 1.33 ERA and a 35:11 strikeout to walk ratio in a three-game sweep of Chicago State last weekend.
P.J. Finigan's (Springfield, Ill.) near-record setting performance lifted the Dawgs to a 8-0 blanking of the Cougars on Mar. 12, while Tyler Norrick (Festus, Mo.) matched a career-high six strikeouts in four no-hit innings to fuel a 4-0 shutout a day later.
For Norrick, Sunday marked his first start since posting six Ks in seven innings at Evansville on April 27, 2003.
Norrick's outing turned into a combined one-hit shutout, as three other Salukis, including freshman Dylan Ward (Fairbury, Ill.), junior Adam Snyder (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and walk-on Shane Garner (Sesser, Ill.) also pitched well.
Ward ended up getting the win, while Snyder struck out two in the eighth and Garner pitched a one-two-three ninth.
Baffled by Saluki pitching, the Cougars' two errors Sunday were more than their total number of hits (1) and runs (0) combined.