Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball home for three-game series against Evansville
04/05/2012 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 5, 2012
By Scott Gierman
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team will resume the Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a three-game series this weekend against the Evansville Purple Aces. The series begins Friday at 3 p.m. at Abe Martin Field. It will be SIU's third of seven conference series in 2012.
SERIES INFORMATION
Date: Friday, April 6-Sunday, April 8
Time: Fri.-3 p.m., Sat.-2 p.m., Sun.-1 p.m.
Location: Carbondale, Ill.
Site: Abe Martin Field
Radio: WFRX 1300-AM Live Stream
Video: Game Central
FRIDAY'S STARTER Cody Forsythe will make his eighth start of the season and the 26th of his SIU career. In his last start he allowed a pair of unearned runs and struck out seven batters in seven innings at Wichita State. He left in line for the win before SIU lost in 10 innings, giving Forsythe his sixth no-decision of 2012. He enters the weekend with an active streak of 13 and a third innings without allowing an earned run. He has a 7-2 career MVC record.
EVANSVILLE SERIES NOTES SIU has had success against Evansville since Abe Martin led the Salukis to a 7-4 victory over the Aces in 1947 in his first game as the baseball coach. SIU leads the all-time series, 91-55, and has won 12 of the last 14 meetings. Southern has won each of the last four regular season series against the Purple Aces. A year ago this weekend, the Salukis swept a three-game series at Evansville. The two teams have have met annually since 1983.
SCOUTING THE PURPLE ACES Evansville enters the weekend having won four of its last five games. Last weekend the Purple Aces won two out of three games at Creighton to improve their conference record to 3-3. Evansville ranks seventh out of eight teams in the MVC with a .253 team batting average. However, the pitching staff has totaled a 3.46 ERA, good enough for third in the league. Sunday's starter, Kyle Freeland, was named MVC Pitcher of the Week this past Monday after tossing a complete game three-hit shutout against Creighton last Sunday. The Aces have hit just two home runs all year. Tim Bodine leads the team with a .321 average, and Eric Stamets leads the MVC with 19 stolen bases in 22 attempts.
1-2 PUNCH With two conference starts apiece, SIU's Friday and Saturday starters, Cody Forsythe and Cameron Maldonado, have combined to go 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA. Maldonado is 2-0 with a complete game in his last outing. Forsythe has 18 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched in conference games. The shortest outing by either pitcher in MVC games this season is seven innings. Forsythe and Maldonado are the only two starting pitchers to record a win in SIU's last 13 games.
HITTING THE ACES Entering the series, SIU's current players have a .297 career batting average against Evansville. Among the regulars leading the charge is Jordan Sivertsen, who has hit .435 (10-for-23) with three home runs in seven games against the Aces. Chris Serritella has a lifetime .417 average against Evansville, and Brian Bajer has hit .357 in five games against the Aces.
MOVING UP THE LIST With two home runs last week, Chris Serritella moved into the top 10 on SIU's all-time career list with 24 home runs. He is tied for seventh most in school history. The junior is two away from moving into sixth place and 12 home runs away from matching the all-time leader, Robert Jones, who had 36.
SLAMMIN SIVERTSEN Jordan Sivertsen recorded his first career multi-home run game on Tuesday when he hit a two-run and a three-run homer and drove in a career-high six runs at Murray State. He has found his power stroke with all five of his home runs this season coming in his last eight games. Four of those five home runs have given SIU the lead. With 21 homers in his career, he is now two away from joining the top 10 on the school's career list. His 121 career RBIs put him six shy of SIU's career top 10.
WALK THE LINE SIU drew 14 walks on Tuesday at Murray State. That is more walks than the Salukis had in their previous four games combined. Prior to Tuesday, the last time SIU had drawn 14 walks in a game was April 12, 2008.
CONTRASTING STYLES Entering the weekend, the powerful SIU hitters are tied for the Missouri Valley Conference lead in home runs with 25, lead the MVC with 220 strikeouts and have the second most total bases (446) in the league. Meanwhile Evansville's stats reflect a team that thrives on small ball. The Aces lead the conference with 28 sacrifice bunts and rank third in the conference with 49 stolen bases. SIU has only attempted 28 stolen bases in 2012.
SUNDAY STARTER For the first time this season, SIU has made a change to the weekend rotation. Sam Coonrod will make his first weekend start on Sunday. The freshman has made two midweek starts and eight relief appearances. He has no record and a 3.60 ERA in two starts and a 1-1 record with a 2.93 ERA in 15 and a third innings in relief. He will replace Nathan Dorris, who recorded a win in each of his first four starts but has not lasted more than four and a third innings in his last three starts.
TROGGIO'S HOT STREAK Junior Rennie Troggio has solidified his role, starting each of SIU's last nine games in center field. Despite breaking a nine-game hitting streak on Tuesday, he still drove in a run. He now has six RBI in his last four games, doing most of his damage from the ninth spot in the order.
WEEKEND WARRIORS SIU is 14-8 in 22 weekend games and 2-5 in six weekday games in 2012. Last weekend at Wichita State was just the second weekend series loss of the season for the Salukis, who have won five weekend series this season.
LOOKING AHEAD Following the series with Evansville, SIU will be on the road for its next four games. The Salukis will play at Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before heading to Dallas Baptist for a three-game series beginning on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. After this weekend, SIU's next home game will not be until Wednesday, April 18 at 3 p.m. at Abe Martin Field against UT-Martin.
