Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Looks to Remain Hot This Weekend at Indiana State
04/28/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 28, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill.-Red-hot Southern Illinois (26-15, 9-6) and Indiana State (24-17, 7-5) go head-to-head in a three-game series on the banks of the Wabash River this weekend. The Salukis and Sycamores will play Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m., CST.
SIU has won six of its last seven, including two straight, while ISU, winners in 11 of its last 13, has posted six consecutive wins.
Broadcast Information
Friday's series-opener against Indiana State can be accessed via the internet only. Saturday and Sunday's games will then be simulcast on 1020 WCIL-AM and www.siusalukis.com. Mike Reis will handle play-by-play duties, while Rick Gregg serves as color analyst. QuickTime Player is required for all webcasts.
Click Here for Live Audio.
Southern Illinois Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday-Tyler Norrick, Jr., LHP, 3-1, 2.70 ERA
Saturday-P.J. Finigan, Sr., RHP, 5-2, 3.55 ERA
Sunday-Bryan Rueger, Sr., LHP, 6-2, 3.33 ERA
Indiana State Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday-Ryan Tatusko, Fr., RHP, 6-0, 2.76 ERA
Saturday-Andrew Galle, Jr., RHP, 1-5, 4.74 ERA
Sunday-Ryan Hayes, So, RHP, 3-1, 5.03 ERA
MVC Race Heats Up
The Salukis, who beat their third league opponent in three games this year, posted their second series win against Evansville (Apr. 22-24) under 11-year head coach Dan Callahan.
After taking two of three from the Purple Aces, SIU now occupies the third-place spot in the Missouri Valley Conference by itself.
Sporting a 9-6 league mark, SIU sits two games out of first-place behind Creighton (31-10, 11-4 MVC) and Wichita State (34-13, 8-4 MVC). The Dawgs are also two games up on Bradley (7-5) and Indiana State (7-5) in the win column, and have one more slash than each of those teams on the loss side.
Meanwhile, ISU swept a three-game series at SMS (Apr. 22-24) as part of its six-game winning streak.
Series Tidbits
SIU is an even 19-19 against ISU under head coach Dan Callahan.
Since Callahan took over the SIU helm in 1995, the Salukis have posted three series wins against the Sycamores, including a 3-0 sweep in 1996. ISU also has one series sweep (1998) under its belt during that time.
Both teams have split three four-game sets in the last four years. The last time SIU won a series against ISU was in 2002 (3-1).
Friday's game marks the 137th (ISU leads, 80-56) meeting between the Salukis and Sycamores, as the all-time series ranks as SIU's second-longest against a Valley opponent. The league foe which SIU has faced most is in-state rival Illinois State.
The Coaches
Dan Callahan (Quincy College, `81; SIU, `87) is 277-314-1, 142-179-1 (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 430-472-2 all-time in 16-plus years as a Division I head coach.
Callahan recently picked up his 430th career win as a Division I head coach when his Salukis beat SE Missouri State, 7-3, on Apr. 27.
Bob Warn (Southern Illinois, `68) is 1,044-700-9, 284-298 (MVC) in his 30th season as head coach at ISU. A three-time MVC Coach of the Year and member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Warn boasts a career record of 1,148-738-9. Included in that total are three seasons at Iowa Western Community College. With Warn at the helm, the Sycamores have enjoyed nine 40-plus win seasons and seven NCAA Tournament appearances. His 1,044 wins also place him among the Top-20 winningest active Division I head baseball coaches.
Warn was an outfielder for the Salukis in 1968. That year, SIU advanced to the College World Series, where it dropped a 4-3 decision to Southern California in the finals. SIU finished at No. 2 in the final Collegiate Baseball Poll that year as well.
Scouting the Sycamores
ISU was preseason-picked to finish seventh out of the nine schools who have baseball in the MVC. The Sycamores were also the only school in the league who did not have a player on the Valley's Preseason All-Conference Team.
As mentioned, the Sycamores have won 11 of their last 13 games, and have scored plenty of runs in the process. In fact, ISU has lit up its opponents for 10 or more runs in six of its wins during that stretch.
The league's top hitting team with a .306 average, ISU also ranks in the top-three among Valley schools in slugging percentage (2nd, .414), runs scored (3rd, 266), hits (2nd, 425), RBI (3rd, 223), triples (1st, 24), SAC bunts (3rd, 32) and stolen bases (1st, 95).
However, pitching and defense have been a concern for the Trees.
After 41 games this season, ISU pitching leads the league in balks (9), and ranks second in both wild pitches (40) and hit batsmen (48). Defensively, the Sycamores have committed a MVC-high 71 errors, which equate to 2.3 a game.
Individually, junior outfielder Tim Brewer is hitting the best of any league player in conference games alone. He boasts a .440 average with 13 runs scored, 22 hits, six RBI, two doubles, a triple, home run and six walks in 12 outings.
Overall, Brewer hits .365, and ranks second on his team which sports five Sycamores hitting over .300 in a minimum of 30 starts. Rance Fosdick (.360), Chris Schmidt (.353), Nevin Ashley (.349) and Jake Eigsti (.307) are the others.
On the basepaths, ISU has 95 thefts in 122 attempts. Brewer (24-25), Schmidt (20-25) and Eigsti (17-23) have combined for 61 of those stolen bases, as the Sycamores are swiping 2.3 bags a game.
The Rise of Norrick
Tyler Norrick (Festus, Mo.), whose emergence as SIU's ace has been somewhat comparable Eric Haberer's a year ago, continues to impress professional scouts.
Since becoming the Dawgs' Friday starter on weekends against Western Michigan (Mar. 18), he has struck out 49 and walked 16. Currently tied for 14th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (11.9 avg.), Norrick ranks among league leaders in several categories, including earned run average (7th, 2.70), opposing batting average (4th, .207), strikeouts (3rd, 66) and batters struck out looking (2nd, 28).
In conference games alone, Norrick tops the Valley in strikeouts (42), is third in innings pitched (33.1), ties for first in batters struck out looking (20) and holds a seventh-best opposing batting average of .210.
Norrick recorded the third double-digit strikeout performance by a Saluki pitcher this season when he fanned a career-high 12 and gave up five hits in seven innings (six scoreless) against Bradley (Apr. 8).
A week later, he struck out seven and allowed three runs in seven innings against SMS (Apr. 15). Norrick's three runs, however, came after seven shutout innings, where he left the game with no outs and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth.
Although two of Norrick's last three starts resulted in no-decisions, he garnered the first MVC Pitcher of the Week honor of his career on Apr. 25 after striking out eight in a one-hit complete game shutout against Evansville (Apr. 24).
On the year, Norrick is 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 14 appearances and eight starts. His ERA is the best of any Saluki weekend starter, and his 66 Ks rank second on the team.
Masters of the Mound
SIU's starting rotation of Tyler Norrick (Festus, Mo.), P.J. Finigan (Springfield, Ill.) and Bryan Rueger (Mt. Vernon, Ind.) guided the Dawgs' pitching staff into the national spotlight, where it tied for 30th in team ERA (3.50) through games of Apr. 26.
Last week, the trio combined for a 1.88 ERA and limited UE to only four runs (three earned) and nine hits in three games.
Even more impressive than that is how neither of the three has been credited with a loss since Norrick and Finigan each fell at Creighton on Apr. 1 & 2.
Since then, the three have teamed up for a 6-0 record, as Rueger beat the Bluejays on Apr. 3, Finigan won at Bradley on Apr. 9, Finigan and Rueger downed SMS on Apr. 16 & 17, and Rueger and Norrick defeated UE on Apr. 22 & 24.
As far as numbers are concerned, Norrick, Finigan and Rueger have only been touched for seven earned runs over the last six league contests, where one of the three has started.
Boasting an impressive 1.21 ERA, they have limited opponents to 12 runs, and are allowing two per game. Not to mention, they have accounted for two complete games, including Norrick's recent one-hit, seven-inning shutout against UE on Apr. 24.
On the year, Norrick (3-1), Finigan (5-2) and Rueger (6-2) are a combined 14-5 with a 3.25 ERA, 192 strikeouts, 70 walks, three complete games and one shutout.
In league games only, SIU pitching ranks second in ERA (2.90), opposing batting average (.246), innings pitched (127.1), strikeouts (105), batters struck out looking (41), wins (9) and saves (5).
In all games, SIU hurlers are third in ERA (3.43), saves (9) and innings pitched (361.2), second in opposing batting average (.253), strikeouts (309) and batters struck out looking (102), and fourth in wins (26) among league foes.
Fin-Again
P.J. Finigan (Springfield, Ill.) helped SIU sweep the MVC Player and Pitcher of the Week awards for the second time this season on Apr. 25. After being named MVC Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 14, Mar. 28) on two occasions this season, Finigan switched gears to earn the first Player of the Week honor of his career.
Finigan has been named MVC Player of the Week (Apr. 25) once, MVC Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 14, 28) twice and Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week (Mar. 16, Apr. 27) two times. He has also made the College Baseball Foundation's Weekly National Honor Roll (Mar. 15, Apr. 26) on two occasions, and was named one of five Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week (Mar. 14).
Ranked both 24th among the nation's Fab-50 College Seniors and one of the top-five projected 2005-06 Draft Picks by Baseball America, Finigan is having a stellar year as the Dawgs' two-way threat.
Offensively, Finigan is on a nine-game hitting streak, which has seen him collect multiple-hits on six occasions, while batting .500 (17-for-34) with nine runs scored, four doubles, a triple, two home runs, five walks (one intentional) and one stolen base.
SIU's top hitter with a .377 average, Finigan tops the Salukis in slugging percentage (.569), on-base percentage (.442) and triples.
On the mound, he is 5-2, and leads the Salukis with 79 strikeouts in 71 innings. In 11 starts, he boasts a 3.55 ERA, and has thrown two complete games as well. Not to mention, he has posted double-digits in strikeouts two times, including a career-high 17 in seven innings against Chicago State (Mar. 12).
In the Valley, Finigan is second in batting average (.377), ties for fourth in triples, is fourth in innings pitched (71), second in strikeouts (79), third in batters struck out looking (21) and tied for seventh in wins.
Hot Dawgs
Saluki leadoff man Kevin Koski's (Schaumburg, Ill.) hitting streak stands at 17 games.
Koski started his hitting streak against UT-Martin on Mar. 29, and has since gone 24-for-70 (.343) with 14 runs, one RBI, two doubles, seven walks, and five stolen bases. He also has six multiple-hit games in that stretch. Koski leads the Salukis with 12 stolen bases and ranks second with a .433 on-base percentage.
Freshman Dean Cademartori (Norridge, Ill.) has hit a blazing .388 (14-for-36) with 13 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, two home runs, nine walks and a stolen base over his last 11 outings. All but one of Cademartori's bases on balls came in three games against UE last weekend.
SIU has registered 10 or more hits in 21 games this season, including a season-high of 16 against both Northern Iowa (Mar. 26) and UT-Martin (Apr. 19). The Salukis are 19-2 in those contests, and have posted double-digit hits in four of their last five games.
