Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball opens three-game series Thursday at Dallas Baptist
04/11/2012 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 11, 2012
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team will travel to Dallas for a three-game non-conference series against the Dallas Baptist Patriots with games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The series is scheduled to begin Thursday at 6:30 p.m. It will be SIU's first ever trip to Patriot Field.
SERIES INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, April 12-Saturday, April 14
Time: Thu.-6:30 p.m., Fri.-6:30 p.m., Sat.-1 p.m.
Location: Dallas, Texas
Site: Patriot Field
Radio: Thu. and Fri.-WVZA 105.1-FM, Sat.-WFRX 1300-FM
Video: None
THURSDAY'S STARTER Cody Forsythe will make his ninth start of the season and the 27th of his SIU career. In his last start he allowed one run off five hits in seven innings against Evansville to pick up his second win of the season. In every start this season, Forsythe has lasted at least five innings and never surrendered more than three earned runs. In his last five starts, he is 2-1 with a 1.85 ERA.
DALLAS BAPTIST SERIES NOTES SIU is 2-1 all-time against Dallas Baptist. The Patriots visited Carbondale for a three-game series last year. However, after SIU and DBU split the first two games, the third game was rained out. The only other meeting between the two schools was in the 2006 Sam Houston Tournament in Huntsville, Texas. SIU won that game, 8-5.
SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS Dallas Baptist snapped a five-game winning streak with a 7-1 loss Wednesday at Texas Tech. That dropped DBU's record to 21-10. The Patriots are hitting .295 as a team. Second baseman and leadoff hitter Austin Elkins leads the team with a .380 average. Landon Anderson and Boomer Collins are both hitting .336, and Collins leads the team with eight home runs and 29 RBI. DBU has a versatile pitching staff that has combined to post a 3.50 ERA and hold opponents to a .240 batting average. Eight different pitchers have started a game for the Patriots this season.
BACK FROM INJURY Lee Weld is available out of the bullpen for SIU after missing all of last season and the first part of the 2012 season while rehabbing a shoulder injury. Weld has not pitched in a game for the Salukis since May 22, 2010. He was slotted to be SIU's closer last season before undergoing shoulder surgery in January 2011. After settling into the bullpen as a freshman in 2010, Weld posted a 4-0 record and a 2.45 ERA in his final 13 appearances of the season.
HOT AND COLD Over the last two games, SIU has recorded 16 hits but only been able to translate that to three runs. With the exception of two Jordan Sivertsen home runs, SIU has had 18 baserunners in the last two games. Three of them have advanced past second base, and only one has scored. In their previous five games, the Salukis were averaging 10 runs and 13 hits.
FACING THE VALLEY DBU is scheduled to play seven of the eight MVC baseball schools this spring, with Illinois State being the exception. Starting this weekend, the Patriots will play a series with an MVC school for each of the next six weekends. So far the only MVC school Dallas Baptist has faced is Missouri State. The Patriots took two out of three from the preseason favorites.
MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK Left fielder Jordan Sivertsen was named MVC Player of the Week on Monday. In four games last week he hit four home runs and drove in 12 runs including a career high six RBI last Tuesday at Murray State. He carried his hot hitting into this week, going two-for-four with a home run Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State. Sivertsen enters the weekend with six home runs in his last seven games. As of Wednesday, he leads the conference with eight home runs, one more than teammate Chris Serritella. Sivertsen joined Austin Montgomery as the other Saluki to be named MVC Player of the Week in 2012. It was the first time since 2006 that SIU has had multiple MVC Players of the Week in the same season.
HOME RUN NOTES Southern Illinois enters the weekend with 28 home runs, which leads the Missouri Valley. The Salukis have homered in 11 of their last 12 games and already surpassed their season total of 21 from a year ago. In 2011, Jordan Sivertsen was the only Saluki to hit more than four home runs. Four players on the team have already hit five this season. SIU has a chance to hit 50 home runs this season for the ninth time in school history. As of Monday, when the weekly NCAA stats were released, SIU ranked 22nd in the nation in home runs hit.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY STARTERS Cameron Maldonado will start on Friday for SIU. He is 5-0 in eight starts and will look to surpase his win total from last season. His is currently tied with five other pitchers for the second most wins in the conference, one behind Missouri State's Nick Petree. SIU is 8-0 in games Maldonado has started in 2012. On Saturday Sam Coonrod will make his second consecutive weekend start and his fourth overall start. The freshman has allowed 10 runs in eight innings over his last two outings to balloon his ERA from 1.66 to 4.25.
WEEKEND WARRIORS SIU has won six out of eight weekend series in 2012 and posted a 16-9 record in weekend games compared to a 2-6 record in midweek games. In 25 games in weekend series, the Salukis are hitting .318 with a team ERA of 4.25. In eight midweek games, SIU is hitting .235 with a 6.26 ERA. The Salukis hit for more power in weekend games as well with a .461 team slugging percentage compared to a .330 slugging percentage in midweek games.
LOOKING AHEAD Following the series with Dallas Baptist, SIU will have five consecutive home games. The Salukis will host Tennesee Martin on Wednesday, April 18 at 3 p.m. before taking on conference rival Creighton in a weekend series at Abe Martin Field. The first pitch of the Creighton series is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday, April 20.
