Salukis continue road swing with weekend series at Louisiana Monroe

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (3-1) AT LOUISIANA MONROE (1-3) // Monroe, La. (Warhawk Field) | SIU GAME NOTES PDF

Southern Illinois continues its season-opening eight-game road swing with a three-game series at Louisiana Monroe from Feb. 24-26. ULM will provide free audio, video and live stats through ULMWarhawks.com. SIU and ULM have met only once before, with SIU winning two out of three games to open the 2002 season.

GAME 1 - Friday, Feb. 24 // 6 p.m. CT // WATCH | LISTEN | STATS

SIU RHP Chad Whitmer (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP)
ULM RHP JOSH LEONE (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 4.0 IP)

GAME 2 - Saturday, Feb. 25 // 2 p.m. CT // WATCH | LISTEN | STATS

SIU RHP Michael Baird (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.2 IP)
ULM RHP Keegan Curtis (0-1, 20.25 ERA, 4.0 IP)

GAME 3 - Sunday, Feb. 26 // 1 p.m. CT // WATCH | LISTEN | STATS

SIU - TBD
ULM - RHP Chase Beal (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 3.0 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois travels to Louisiana Monroe for the second weekend of the year. The Salukis and Warhawks play at 6 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
SIU swept Stetson on the road on opening weekend. Southern Illinois was one of five programs in the nation that earned a road sweep on opening weekend, joining Virginia Tech, Kent State, North Dakota State and Michigan State.
SIU is off to its hottest start since 2006, when the Dawgs were also 3-1 after four games.
Southern's weekend starters had an 0.54 ERA on opening weekend. After Stetson scored twice in the second inning on Friday, SIU starters Chad Whitmer, Michael Baird and Joey Marciano threw a combined 15-consecutive scoreless innings.
SIU has committed only one error in four games and has an MVC-best .993 fielding percentage. Southern has played 34 consecutive errorless innings.
Leadoff hitter Connor Kopach has started the season on a four-game hitting streak. Kopach, Nick Hutchins, Greg Lambert and Logan Blackfan have reached base in all four games to start the season.

SALUKIS AT ULM FOR SEASON'S SECOND WEEKEND

Southern Illinois travels to Louisiana Monroe for the second weekend of the season. The Salukis and Warhawks play a three-game set Feb. 24-26 at Warhawk Field.
Free audio, video and live statistics will be available through ULMWarhawks.com.
ULM will be facing a Missouri Valley Conference team for the second-straight weekend. ULM beat Dallas Baptist on opening day before dropping the final two games against the Patriots.
SIU and Louisiana Monroe have played only three games against each other. The Salukis won two out of three at ULM to open the 2002 season.
Now SIU's pitching coach, P.J. Finigan recorded his first career hit in that series, an eighth-inning two-run single in the opener. Finigan had six hits in the three-game series.

SALUKIS SWEEP OPENING WEEKEND

Southern Illinois swept a three-game series at Stetson on opening weekend. SIU won 7-6, 7-0, and 8-4 over the Hatters.
SIU was one of five programs in the nation to sweep a road series on opening weekend.
- Kent State (3-0) at Belmont
- Michigan State (4-0) at Abilene Christian
- North Dakota State (4-0) at Mississippi Valley State
- Southern Illinois (3-0) at Stetson
- Virginia Tech (3-0) at USC Upstate
SIU starting pitching allowed only one earned run in 16.2 innings, an 0.54 ERA.
After Stetson scored two runs (one earned) in the second inning of the first game, SIU starters Chad Whitmer, Michael Baird and Joey Marciano threw 15-straight scoreless innings.
Will Farmer led SIU in hitting, going 7-for-12 over the sweep (.583) with multi-hit games in all three wins.

CHASING RECORDS

Logan Blackfan has 44 career doubles, seven away from tying the school record.
Blackfan led the MVC with 23 doubles last year as a sophomore after hitting 19 doubles as a freshman in 2015.
SIU's career doubles record is 51, held by Chris Serritella (2009-12) and Tim Kratochvil (1993-96).
Ryan Netemeyer was second in the MVC last year with 12 saves, which ranks second in SIU single-season history.
Netemeyer has 14 career saves, which is sixth in SIU history.
Netemeyer's next save will tie Andrew Weber (2002-05) for fifth on SIU's career list. With two more saves, Netemeyer will tie Tyler Dray (2011-14) for fourth on the career list.
Jacob Williams is SIU's most experienced reliever with 61 career appearances. He needs nine more appearances to crack the SIU's top-10 list for career appearances.
Connor Kopach has eight career triples, including one on opening weekend. He needs three more to crack SIU's top-10 list for career triples.

FRESHMEN ARMS PROVE PROMISING

Four true freshmen pitchers have been promising in their first career appearances.
Brad Harrison inherited two runners in a one-run game at Stetson. He got out of the jam and pitched the final 2.1 innings to earn his first career save.
Against Austin Peay, Henry Boeckmann, Alex Gutermuth and Justin Yeager all threw one inning. The trio combined for five strikeouts while allowing only one hit in three innings.

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