Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Hosts SMS This Weekend
04/14/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 14, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill.-Southern Illinois (20-13, 5-4) hosts Southwest Missouri State (11-19, 3-6) in a key Missouri Valley Conference series this weekend. The Salukis and Bears play Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m., CST.
SIU, who entered its series at Bradley (Apr. 8-10) tied for second in the league, dropped to fourth-place after suffering a pair of heartbreaking losses to the Braves, as all three games of that set were decided by one run.
Broadcast Information
All three games of SIU's series against SMS will be simulcast live on WCIL-AM 1020 and www.siusalukis.com. Mike Reis will handle play-by-play duties, while Rick Gregg serves as color analyst. You must have QuickTime Player in order to listen to all webcasts. Live Stats for all three games are also available online. Live Audio
Live Stats
Southern Illinois Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday-Tyler Norrick, Jr., LHP, 2-1, 2.83 ERA
Saturday-P.J. Finigan, Sr., RHP, 4-2 3.97 ERA
Sunday-Bryan Rueger, Sr., LHP, 4-2 3.70 ERA
SMS Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday-Brett Sinkbeil, So., RHP, 3-6, 5.32 ERA
Saturday-Paul Marsala, Jr., RHP, 2-1 5.31 ERA
Sunday-Chris Krawczyk, Jr., RHP, 1-1 3.98 ERA
There's No Place Like Home
SIU has won six straight games at home, where it is 12-3 on the year.
SMS marks the second Valley opponent to visit Abe Martin Field this season. The Salukis opened MVC play with a three-game sweep of Northern Iowa (Mar. 25-27) to start their six-game home winning streak.
Since then, the Dawgs have won home midweek games against Tennessee-Martin (4-3 (11) on (Mar. 29), Murray State (6-2 on Apr. 6) and Eastern Illinois (9-0 on Apr. 12).
Statistically, SIU is hitting .307 on its home diamond. The Salukis have registered 10 or more hits in nine of their first 15 home dates, and are undefeated in those matchups. SIU is also outscoring (103-47), outhitting (160-107), outfielding (.963-.942) and outpitching (2.41 ERA-5.87 ERA) its opponents at Abe's Place.
Series Tidbits
SIU trails its all-time series against SMS, 20-42.
Along with Wichita State, SMS has given SIU the most fits of any league opponent.
Under head coach Dan Callahan, no Saluki club has ever won a series against SMS. Callahan is 13-29 all-time against the Bears.
SIU is also 4-13 in its last five home series against SMS.
The closest a Callahan-coached team has come to taking a series from the Bears was in 1996 (2-2) and 1997 (1-1), where the two teams split.
Despite dropping three of four games against SMS during the 2003 and 2004 regular seasons, SIU sent the Bears into the loser's bracket at the MVC Tournament in each of those years.
SMS' 17-year veteran pitching coach Paul Evans graduated from SIU in 1981. He was 18-7 as a Saluki, and his 0.84 ERA as a sophomore ranked third in the nation. To this day, Evans stands as the last SIU pitcher to throw a no-hitter (7 innings vs. SIU-Edwardsville on Apr. 15, 1979).
The Coaches
Dan Callahan (Quincy College, `81; SIU, `87) is 271-312-1, 138-177-1 (MVC) 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. He is 424-470-2 all-time in 16-plus years as a Division I head coach.
Keith Guttin (Missouri-St. Louis, `78) is 793-470, 291-170 (MVC) in his 23rd year in charge of the SMS baseball program. Guttin has had seven 40-win seasons and SMS is coming off its most successful three-year period in the program's 40-year history. Guttin, who led the Bears to their first-ever NCAA Division I College World Series in 2003, entered the 2005 season ranked 28th among active NCAA Division I coaches in victories.
Last Time Between SIU and SMS
SIU was the first visiting team to play in Hammons Field, which opened as the new home to SMS baseball on Apr. 2, 2004.
In front of an electrifying sell-out crowd of 9,017, the Salukis beat the Bears, 3-2, in 10 innings to take the first-ever game played in the state-of-the-art facility. Nathan Emrick (Griggsville, Ill.) went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, and the game's first hit to lead the Dawgs offensively, while Andrew Weber (Peotone, Ill.) struck out three in two relief innings to get the win on the mound.
SIU would then lose the series after dropping the next three games by scores of 2-0, 7-3 and 6-3.
The Salukis (No. 4 seed) and Bears (No. 3 seed) also met in the first round of the MVC Tournament, where SIU won, 3-1, also at Hammons Field.
Matt Brewer (Springfield, Ill.) did the most damage of any Saluki in five games against SMS a year ago. He hit .389 (7-for-18) with four runs scored, a pair of doubles, one home run, a RBI, two walks and two stolen bases.
Scouting the Bears
Picked to finish third in the Valley's Preseason Poll, SMS enters the weekend in seventh-place after a three-game sweep by Creighton dropped the Bears to 3-6.
Currently on a six-game losing streak after recently falling to No. 10 Arkansas (14-5) on Apr. 13,SMS ranks last in the conference in hitting (.260) and second-to-last in pitching (5.07 ERA).
Right-hander Brett Sinkbeil, who is expected to start Friday's series-opener, has struggled to a league-leading six losses, as he is 3-6 with a 5.32 ERA. Sinkbeil, the MVC's Freshman of the Year, and a Freshman All-American selection by Collegiate Baseball in 2004, has also struck out 45 and walked 18 over his first eight starts.
Sinkbeil was 6-1 with three complete games and two shutouts in eight MVC starts last season.
Tim Rafferty (.352), Chris Taylor (.325) and Jacob Hilgendorf (.311) are the only Bears hitting over .300 this season.
Of the three, Hilgendorf is the only one who started all 30 games, where he also has 15 runs scored, seven doubles, two triples and eight RBI.
Life After Gerrard
SIU's second-leading hitter and one of the most dangerous offensive threats in the MVC, junior outfielder Grant Gerrard (Castle Rock, Colo.) will miss the rest of the season due to a broken left wrist.
Gerrard experienced sharp pain in his wrist, which appeared to be affecting his swing during batting practice prior to SIU's midweek tilt against Murray State on Apr. 6. The next morning, a bone scan would reveal a slight fracture.
Gerrard ranked among the top-five MVC leaders in RBI (t5th; 26), home runs (t1st; 5), total bases (3rd; 60) and slugging percentage (5th; .556) before suffering the season-ending injury.
Since Gerrard has been out of the lineup, SIU is hitting just .150 (3-for-20) with three runs scored, a double and one RBI in the four-hole over the last five games.
Four Salukis, including Matt Brewer (Springfield, Ill.), Chris McCulloch (Topeka, Kan.), Hunter Harrigan (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Ryan Enata (Bloomington, Ill.) have had at least one at-bat there.
Before Gerrard got hurt, the Salukis boasted a .311 (37-for-119) clip with 20 runs, nine doubles, six home runs and 28 RBI in the cleanup spot.
Among the Nation's Best
In the first set of NCAA Division I Baseball statistics dated through games of Apr. 10, SIU's Matt Brewer (Springfield, Ill.) and Tyler Norrick (Festus, Mo.) rank among national leaders.
Brewer, who leads both the Salukis and MVC with 15 doubles, is tied for 18th in doubles per game (0.47).
Meanwhile, Norrick ranks tied for 10th in strikeouts per nine innings. In 11 appearances, he has posted 49 strikeouts in 35 frames, and boasts a 12.6 Ks per game average per nine innings.
As a team, SIU ranks nationally in double plays per game for the third consecutive season. The Salukis, who are tied for 30th (34 DPs, 1.06 avg.), finished both the 2003 (1st) and 2004 (9th) campaigns ranked in the top-10 in that category. Also, SIU has turned at least 68 double plays in each of those years, and are already halfway there to reaching that mark again this season.
Norrick Rolls
Junior left-hander Tyler Norrick's (Festus, Mo.) stock continues to go up with every start.
Since becoming the Dawgs' Friday starter in the weekend rotation against Western Michigan on Mar. 18, he has struck out 32 and walked 10.
Recently, Norrick recorded the third double-digit strikeout performance by a Saluki pitcher this season when he fanned 12, allowed a run and gave up five hits in seven innings (six scoreless) of a no-decision against Bradley (Apr. 1).
On the year, he is 2-1 with a 2.83 ERA in 11 appearances and five starts. He ranks fourth in the Valley with 49 strikeouts and has also combined on one shutout.
In addition, his 49 Ks in 35 innings are second on the team.
Two-Way Terror
Senior P.J. Finigan (Springfield, Ill.) is putting up some solid numbers as the Salukis' every day shortstop and number two starting pitcher in the weekend rotation.
Hitting a second-best .337 in 25 starts at short, Finigan ranks third on the team in runs (20), first in triples (3) and tied for third in both stolen bases (4) and RBI (16).
On the mound, Finigan has done even more damage.
He was named MVC Pitcher of the Week on two occasions (Mar. 14; Mar. 28). He was also named one of five Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week, and MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Mar. 14.
Most of those honors came after he registered a career-high 17 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings during an 8-0 shutout against Chicago State on Mar. 12.
Two starts later, he registered 10 strikeouts and allowed three hits in a complete game seven-inning win against Northern Iowa on Mar. 26.
Most recently, Finigan pitched and hit for the first time in the lineup since his senior year of high school against Bradley on Apr. 9. He struck out eight in the first nine-inning complete game win of his career to go along with a RBI-single at the plate.
Finigan's team-leading 71 strikeouts rank second in the league behind Wichita State's Mike Pelfrey (76).
Not to mention, 60 of those Ks have come over his last six starts.
Hit and Score
Since scoring 33 runs (the most in a series by a SIU club since 1999) in three games against Northern Iowa (Mar. 25-27), SIU has plated only 12 runs over its last six league matchups.
SIU has also been held to under 10 hits in those six contests.
Hitting .272 in league games, SIU's 39 hits against the Panthers nearly matches its 42 hits collected in the last six games.
SIU lost two of its three games to Bradley (Apr. 8 & 10) in the eighth or 10th inning, and the Salukis are outscoring conference opponents, 40-19, in the first six innings, but trail, 5-10, between the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th.
Other News
SIU leadoff hitter Kevin Koski (Schaumburg, Ill.) is currently on a nine-game hitting streak dating back to Mar. 29.
Koski's hitting streak is the second-longest this season to Matt Brewer's (Springfield, Ill.) 10-game stretch, which lasted from Feb. 12 to Mar. 5.
Since hitting .250 (1-for-4) in SIU's 2005 opener at Stetson (Feb. 11), Koski has not allowed his average to dip below .331 over his last 32 games.
Koski is the Dawgs' leading hitter with a .341 (45-for-132) average, as his 29 runs and 11 stolen bases also top the team.
Saluki freshmen Dean Cademartori (Norridge, Ill.), Ryan Enata (Bloomington, Ill.) and Tyler Lairson (Richmond, Ind.) combined for half of SIU's 12 hits Tuesday against Eastern Illinois.
Of the three, Cademartori paved the way after he narrowly missed hitting for the cycle by going 3-for-4 with a single, double, triple, three runs scored and one RBI.
SIU picked up its 20th win of the season on Apr. 12 against EIU. At this time a year ago, the Dawgs' 20th win didn't come until a month later -- 5-1, vs. Saint Louis (May 12, 2004).
