Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Heads to Bradley This Weekend
04/07/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 7, 2005
Bradley Series Notes in PDF Format
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By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill.-Southern Illinois (18-11, 4-2) returns to Missouri Valley Conference action this weekend when it visits Bradley (16-8, 3-3) for a three-game series. The Salukis and Braves play Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m., CST.
Winners in six of its last eight games, SIU takes to the road for its second consecutive conference series after dropping two of three at Creighton (Apr. 1-3) last week.
Broadcast Information
Friday's series-opener against Bradley 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 Internet Audio.
Southern Illinois Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday 26 Tyler Norrick (2-1) , Jr. LHP, Festus, Mo.
Saturday 11 P.J. Finigan (3-2), Sr., RHP, Springfield, Ill.
Sunday 23 Bryan Rueger (4-2), Sr., LHP, Mt. Vernon, Ind.
Series History
SIU and BU have met 123 times, as the all-time series stands at 67-55-1, in favor of the Dawgs.
The Salukis and Braves started playing each other in 1952, and the 123 games are the most SIU has played against any opponent in the MVC.
BU is the third team from Illinois that SIU faces this season. So far, the Salukis are 5-1 against in-state schools after sweeping Chicago State on Mar. 11-13, and winning two of three against Northern Illinois on Mar. 4-6.
Other Series Tidbits
SIU has registered 14 series wins against BU and has swept the Braves three times, with the last being in 2000 (4-0).
Like SIU, the Braves also swept on three occasions, as all but one of those sweeps were during the Sam Riggleman era, where the Dawgs never won a series against BU.
The Salukis and Braves split five times, including three under head coach Dan Callahan.
Callahan's clubs are 22-16-1 all-time against BU. The Salukis are also 9-9 against the Braves in Peoria dating back to when Callahan first took over as SIU's head coach in 1995.
The last time SIU won a series at BU was in 2003. That year, the Dawgs won three of four games.
Since then, SIU has only posted one series win against a Valley opponent on the road, and that was against Creighton, which also happened in 2003.
The Salukis went the entire 2004 season without winning a league series away from home.
The Coaches
Dan Callahan (Quincy College, `81; SIU, `87) is 269-310-1, 137-175-1 (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 422-468-2 all-time in 16-plus years as a Division I head coach.
Dewey Kalmer (Quincy College, `66) is 746-678-4 in his 26th year as BU's head coach. Kalmer who also owns a career 936-820-5 mark in his 37th season overall, ranks among the top-40 all-time winningest NCAA Division I Baseball Coaches
Callahan attended Quincy College during the time that Kalmer coached there. Kalmer began his head coaching career at that institution in 1969, and 11 seasons later, he took over the BU job in 1980. Although he never played under Kalmer, Callahan claims that Kalmer is one of the main reasons why he chose to attend Quincy College.
Last Time Between SIU and BU
Nathan Emrick (Griggsville, Ill.) hit .583 (7-for-12) with two runs scored, a double and four RBI to lead SIU to a 2-1-1 series win against BU last season in Carbondale.
The Salukis won the first two games of the series by scores of 4-2 and 11-1 (7 innings). After BU bounced back to win game three, 7-1, both teams battled to a 7-7 tie in the series finale, which was called due to darkness.
According to the all-time year-by-year standings in the MVC's Baseball Media Guide, the 7-7 finish between SIU and BU marked the first-ever league game to end in a tie. SIU, who hit .333 on the series, averaged 10.5 hits a game against the Braves last season. Additionally, there were a total of 61 runners left on base between the two teams.
Scouting the Braves
BU (3-3) ranks third in the league behind both SIU and Evansville, who share the second-place spot with identical 4-2 marks.
Preseason-picked to finish eighth among the nine schools who have baseball in the MVC, the Braves enter the weekend with three of the top-four hitters in the Valley.
Brad Canada tops the MVC with a .397 average, while Paul Rice and Ryan Kenny tie for third with .375 clips. The three have also combined for 56 runs, 91 hits, 20 doubles, five home runs, 46 RBI and 18 stolen bases.
As a team, the Braves lead the conference in both hitting (.301) and pitching (3.36 ERA), while ranking second in slugging percentage (.408) and on-base percentage (.396).
Outfielder Gone Third
One of two returning starters to the outfield this season, junior Matt Brewer (Springfield, Ill.) has started 12 games at third base.
Brewer, who entered the year with an injured throwing arm, started his first 15 games of 2005 as the Dawgs' designated hitter.
Having been cleared to participate in the Northern Illinois series on Mar. 4-6, Brewer continued to DH until the final game of the Chicago State series, where he made his debut as a third baseman on Mar. 13.
Brewer replaced Chris McCulloch (Topeka, Kan.), who previously committed a team-leading 11 errors in 12 starts at the hot corner.
Since moving to his new position, Brewer has done rather well. In fact, he has seven putouts, 28 assists and only six errors.
Brewer, however, started the last two games in right field after the key injury to Gerrard last weekend.
Offensively, Brewer ranks among the league's top-three individuals in slugging percentage (3rd; .580), RBI (t2nd; 31), doubles (t1st; 14), home runs (t1st; 5) and total bases (t1st; 69).
As SIU's fourth-leading hitter with a .319 average, he tops his team in doubles, total bases, slugging percentage, multiple-hit games (15), multiple-RBI games (7) and home runs.
Scoreless Snyder
Saluki relief left-hander Adam Snyder (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has held opponents scoreless for 11 consecutive innings, and hasn't allowed an earned run in five appearances.
Snyder has only given up four earned runs in 26.2 innings of work this season. He has also struck out 16 and walked nine, as all but seven of his frames have been shutout innings.
The last time Snyder gave up an earned run was at Middle Tennessee State on Mar. 16.
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 team-leading .360 in 21 starts at short, Finigan ranks third on the team in runs (20), first in triples (2) and tied for third in stolen bases (3). Most recently, Finigan went 3-for-4 with a triple, RBI and one run scored to lead SIU to a 6-2 win against Murray State on Apr. 6.
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.
Finigan's team-leading 63 strikeouts rank second in the league behind Wichita State's Mike Pelfrey (66).
Not to mention, 52 of those Ks have come over Finigan's last five starts.
Finigan will start Saturday's game against the Braves.
Common Knowledge
There have been four MVC Player/Pitcher of the Week honors between SIU and BU players this season. Springfield natives P.J. Finigan (Mar. 14; Mar. 28) and Matt Brewer (Mar. 28) have garnered the honor for SIU, while Paul Rice (Mar. 7) and Ryan Kenny (Mar. 14) earned the award for BU.
Finigan was named Pitcher of the Week on two occasions, while Brewer took Player of the Week honors for the first time in his Saluki career.
10 or More Hits Help
SIU opened conference play with 10 or more hits in each of its three games against Northern Iowa, a series which the Salukis swept.
Last weekend, SIU was held to under 10 hits in all three of its games against Creighton, and lost the series, 2-1.
The Dawgs, who have gone four consecutive games with less than 10 hits, are 14-1 when posting double-digits in hits.
