Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball heads to San Antonio for Spring Break
03/14/2006 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 14, 2006
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
Dates: Wednesday-Saturday, March 15-18, 2006
Site: Wolff Stadium (San Antonio, Texas)
Series History vs. Iowa: SIU leads, 3-2
Series History vs. Notre Dame: ND leads, 7-4
Head Coaches: SIU: Dan Callahan (302-325-1/12th Year)
Iowa: Jack Dahm (53-69/3rd Year)
ND: Paul Mainieri (494-201-2/12th Year)
Audio Webcast: www.siusalukis.com
Livestats: Iowa Games
Notre Dame Games
Pitching Probables
Wednesday - Jordan Powell
Thursday - Cody Adams
Friday - Adam Snyder
Saturday - Matt Brewer
Salukis Head to Irish Classic For Spring Break
Southern Illinois heads to San Antonio, Texas for four games at the Irish Classic this week. The Salukis face Iowa on Wednesday and Thursday, and Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday. Both of SIU's games against the Hawkeyes, initially scheduled for 5:30 p.m., have been moved back to 4 p.m., CST. The Dawgs and Fighting Irish will meet as scheduled, at 1:30 p.m., both days. The round robin tournament will be played at Wolff Stadium, the home of the Seattle Mariners' Double AA affiliate, San Antonio Missions.
Back-to-Back Game-Winning Hits Cap Late-Inning Comebacks
SIU rallied in the late innings to post back-to-back come-from-behind wins to take its series against Middle Tennessee State last weekend. Freshman Bret Maugeri's two-RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning gave SIU a 9-7 win Saturday, while senior Erik Alvarez's two-out single to left sealed a 7-6 win in the bottom of the ninth Sunday. The series win marked SIU's third of the season.
On the Road Again
This week's games mark SIU's first on the road since visiting Murray State on Mar. 1. The Dawgs are recently coming off an eight-game homestand, where they posted an even 4-4 mark. SIU holds a 5-1 record away from home this year, including a 2-0 mark at neutral sites.
Second Trip to the Lonestar State
SIU visited Texas in February as one of four teams who participated in the Sam Houston State Tournament. The Dawgs went 2-0 in that event after beating Dallas Baptist, 8-5, on Feb. 17, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 12-2, on Feb. 19. SIU was also scheduled to play the tourney host Bearkats on Feb. 18, but that game was rained out.
Salukis Open 2006 Red-Hot
The Salukis started 2006 with wins in 10 of their first 11 games. SIU opened the year with a series win on the road against, at the time, No. 20 Florida Atlantic. The Dawgs' dominating 17-8 win against the Owls on Feb. 12 marked the start of a nine-game winning streak, the second-longest under 12th-year head coach Dan Callahan. Northern Illinois, however, brought that blazing stretch to an end when it won a three-game series in Carbondale on Mar. 3-5. SIU had dropped four of five games prior to its pair of one-run thrillers against Middle Tennessee last weekend.
No Stranger to the Irish Classic
Since 1996, SIU has visited San Antonio for the Irish Classic every two years, with the exception of 2000. The Salukis, who are 5-9 all-time at the Irish Classic, ended a frustrating 12-game losing streak with a 12-9 win over Penn State during their last visit to San Antonio in 2004. Although SIU started that season at 0-12, it went on to make the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship, where it fell one win shy of garnering the league's automatic NCAA berth.
2004 Irish Classic Recap
SIU faced then-ranked No. 7 Notre Dame to open the 2004 Irish Classic. There were a total of 23 runs and 33 hits, and both teams used five pitchers before Craig Cooper touched home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 11th to give the Irish a 12-11 win. The next day, SIU suffered its second-straight one-run loss in extra innings when Matt Harter's single in the top of the 10th held up in Penn State's 8-7 win over the Dawgs. The Salukis surrendered leads of four or more runs in each of those losses. SIU was then blanked, 5-0, by UT-San Antonio, before winning the consolation game, 12-9, against the Nittany Lions.
Series History against Notre Dame
SIU is 4-7 all-time against Notre Dame. The Salukis met the Fighting Irish nine times under head coach Dan Callahan, and are 2-7 in those contests. One of Callahan's two wins against the Irish came in 2004 when ND visited Carbondale for two more games in addition to the one the teams played at the Irish Classic.
Series History against Iowa
SIU leads its all-time series against Iowa, 3-2. The Dawgs met the Hawkeyes in both 1992 (L, 5-8) and 1993 (W, 4-3) prior to the Dan Callahan Era. Under Callahan, the Salukis won a three-game series against Iowa in 2003. That year, Callahan earned his 200th career victory when Sal Frisella hit a walk-off home run against the Hawkeyes on Mar. 9.
Back on Track
Saluki junior leadoff hitter extraordinaire Kevin Koski went 2-for-22 (.091) and hitless in four of six games prior to last Saturday, where he slowly started to climb out of his six-game rut. Koski, who hails from Schaumburg, Ill., posted his first multiple-hit game since Feb. 26 with two hits against Middle Tennessee State on Mar. 11. Koski surpassed his dismal six-game total of two hits with three in his last two games against the Blue Raiders alone.
