Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball hosts Central Michigan in home opener this weekend
02/22/2007 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
Feb. 22, 2007
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
Dates: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 23-25, 2007
Series Schedule: Friday, 2 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m., CST
Site: Abe Martin Field (2,000)
Series History: SIU leads, 19-13
Head Coaches: SIU: Dan Callahan (325-348-1/ 13th Year).
CMU: Steve Jaksa (137-95/5th Year)
Audio Webcast: www.siusalukis.com
Live Stats: www.siusalukis.com
Probable Pitching Rotations
Southern Illinois
Friday - Jordan Powell, RHP (0-2)
Saturday - Cody Adams, RHP (2-0)
Sunday - Shawn Joy, LHP (0-1)
Central Michigan
Friday - Josh Collmenter, RHP (0-0)
Saturday - Kurt Lauscher, RHP (0-0)
Sunday - Dan Taylor, LHP (1-0)
HOME SWEET HOME
After taking to the road for its first six games of the 2007 season, SIU returns to Carbondale for the next 16 of 20 games.The Salukis will host Northern Illinois (Mar. 2-4), Youngstown State (Mar. 10-11), Western Michigan (Mar. 16-18), Murray State (Mar. 21), Illinois State (Mar. 23-25) and Tennessee-Martin (Mar. 28) in addition to their series with CMU this weekend.
HOME OPENERS
SIU is 9-3 all-time in home-openers under head coach Dan Callahan. The Salukis have opened with a win at home in six of the last eight years.
SERIES HISTORY
SIU holds an all-time series record of 19-13 against CMU. Under head coach Dan Callahan, the Salukis are a near-perfect 6-1 versus the Chippewas. SIU enters the weekend looking to extend a four-game winning streak against CMU after sweeping the Chippewas in Carbondale a year ago.
DAWGS TAKE TWO OF THREE IN MISSISSIPPI
The Salukis finished second out of four teams at the 2007 Coca-Cola Southern Mississippi Baseball Classic last weekend. SIU dropped its first game of the tournament, 9-0, to host Southern Miss, but rallied for back-to-back one-run wins to leave Hattiesburg with a 2-1 record. SIU capped the weekend with a dramatic, 4-3, come-from-behind win in 13 innings against Louisville on Feb. 18.
PITCHING ATOP THE VALLEY
SIU leads the Missouri Valley Conference with a 1.96 ERA after six games this season. The Saluki staff, under first-year pitching coach Tim Dixon, has been charged with just 12 earned runs for an average of two per game. SIU hurlers also hold a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (38 Ks, 11 BB) in 55 innings. Right-hander Cody Adams leads the league in strikeouts, and innings pitched with 11 and 14.1, respectively. He is undefeated at 2-0 and has a 1.26 ERA entering this weekend.
START ME UP
Senior Kevin Koski has made 133 consecutive starts in the Saluki outfield. A native of Schaumburg, Ill., he recently moved to fifth in career hits at SIU. Koski's 235 career hits surpassed both Bert Newman (233, 1973-76) and Tim Kratochvil (234, 1993-96) for that spot.
YOUNG GUNS
SIU has started four true freshmen in all but two games this season. Michael Finigan and Aaron Roberts have started six games at shortstop and right field, while Tyler Choate (1B) and Lou Johanns (3B) made four starts at the corner infield spots. Finigan and Choate recently had two-out hits in the 13th inning to lead the Dawgs to their thrilling 4-3 win over Louisville last Sunday.
