Salukis face Illinois State on Senior Weekend

Friday, May 12

Carbondale, Ill.

6:30 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Illinois State

05/11/2017 | 4:52:00 | Baseball

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (23-26, 6-9 MVC) vs. ILLINOIS STATE (12-34, 1-14 MVC) // May 12-14, 2017 // Carbondale, Ill. (Weather) // Itchy Jones Stadium (2,000 | Turf) // SIU Game Notes PDF

The Southern Illinois baseball teams hosts Illinois State on Senior Weekend May 12-14 at Itchy Jones Stadium. Before Saturday's game, the Salukis will honor the team's 11 seniors: Gavyn Ellet, Will Farmer, Jake Hand, Joey Marciano, Austin McPheron, Dyllin Mucha, Ryan Sabo, Anthony Shimkus, Ryan Smith, Chad Whitmer, and Jacob Williams.

GAME 1 - Friday, May 12 // 6:30 p.m. CT // ESPN3 | Stats | Audio | 105.1-FM in Carbondale

SIU RHP Chad Whitmer (5-3, 3.86 ERA, 81.2 IP)
ILS RHP Brady Huffman (3-4, 4.50 ERA, 48.0 IP)

GAME 2 - Saturday, May 13 // 2 p.m. CT // Stats | Audio | 1300-AM and 95.5-FM in Carbondale

SIU LHP Jamison Steege (1-1, 5.52 ERA, 29.1 IP)
ILS LHP Matt Walker (0-1, 8.31 ERA, 30.1 IP)
Note: SIU RHP Michael Baird will not make his regular Saturday start as a precautionary measure with a sore arm.

GAME 3 - Sunday, May 14 // 1 p.m. CT // ESPN3 | Stats | Audio | 1300-AM and 95.5-FM in Carbondale

SIU LHP Joey Marciano (3-3, 4.71 ERA, 42.0 IP)
ILS TBD

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois wraps up a 10-game home stand with a three-game series against Illinois State May 12-14.
Illinois State won 12 in a row in the series between 2011-14. Since then, the Salukis have won five of the last seven. The all-time series is tied, 87-87.
On Thursday, the College Baseball Foundation announced that Southern Illinois closer Ryan Netemeyer was one of 21 semifinalists for National Pitcher of the Year. Netemeyer is also a semifinalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year.
Netemeyer has 14 saves this season, the second-most in the NCAA. His 14 saves broke a 27-year old school record set by Al Levine in 1990.
Netemeyer's 27 career saves are eighth among active players in Division I baseball and second among active juniors.
Netemeyer did not allow an earned run in March or April. A home run last weekend ended a streak of 23 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Outfielder Ryan Smith comes into the weekend with a 12-game hitting streak, the longest on the team this year. Nine of those 12 games have been multi-hit games for Smith.
In the last four games, Jake Hand has two home runs and eight RBIs. Hand, who did not have a home run entering 2017, went 4-for-13 with two homers and seven RBIs against No. 16 Missouri State last weekend.
Chad Whitmer has earned MVC Pitcher of the Week twice in the month of April. He earned it after striking out 13 in a complete game win at Indiana State and also after eight innings of one-run ball in a 4-1 win over Dallas Baptist.
Greg Lambert has a league-leading 20 doubles this year. Southern's single-season doubles record is 24, set by Chris Serritella in 2012.
Southern Illinois has stolen 86 bases this year, which ranks 14th in the NCAA and leads the MVC by 46 (Evansville is second with 40). SIU went 14-for-15 stealing in four games last week.
Southern's 86 steals are the most for the program since the 1991 team stole 109 bases. Last year's SIU team stole 38 bags.
Connor Kopach has 30 stolen bases this year, which ranks fourth in the NCAA. Already, Kopach has the most stolen bases for any Saluki since Bob Geary had 34 in 1991.
Blackfan is tied for the SIU career doubles record with 51. His next double will break the record shared by Chris Serritella (2009-12) and Tim Kratochvil (1993-96).
SIU ranks 19th nationally and leads the MVC with 47 double plays. Since the start of 2015, Southern has turned 162 double plays in 164 games, the most in the league. Will Farmer has started all 164 of those games in the middle infield.

OFFENSE ROLLING

Ryan Smith is riding a 12 game hitting streak into the weekend, the longest hitting streak for a Saluki this season.
During his 12-game hitting streak, Smith has nine multi-hit games. His batting average has raised 46 points (from .272 to .318).
Jake Hand has eight RBIs in the last four games. Against Missouri State, he hit two three-run home runs and finished the series with seven RBIs.
Missouri State holds the MVC's best ERA, but the Salukis scored 18 runs over three games against the No. 16-ranked Bears (6.0 runs per game).
Greg Lambert has hit in 12 of the last 15 games. In that span, he has raised his batting average from .288 to .325.
Lambert ranks third in the MVC in RBIs with 48.
Lambert leads the MVC with 20 doubles. He's the ninth player in SIU history with a 20-double season. He's within striking distance of the SIU single-season record of 24 doubles, set by Chris Serritella in 2012.
Will Farmer has hit in nine of the last 10 games. He has four multi-hit games in that span, along with three doubles and six RBIs.

RUN WITH US

Southern Illinois has stolen 86 bases this year, which ranks 14th in the NCAA and leads the MVC by 46 (Evansville is second with 40). SIU went 14-for-15 stealing in four games last week.
Southern's 86 steals are the most for the program since the 1991 team stole 109 bases. Last year's SIU team stole 38 bags.
Connor Kopach has 30 stolen bases this year, which ranks fourth in the NCAA. Already, Kopach has the most stolen bases for any Saluki since Bob Geary had 34 in 1991.
Kopach stole four bases in the Sunday game vs. Tennessee Tech, which tied a school record and tied for the most in the NCAA this year.
Kopach is the first SIU player with a four-steal game since 1992.
This past summer, Kopach set a Northwoods League record with 50 stolen bases.
Kopach (30) and Ryan Smith (18) are 1-2 in the MVC in stolen bases this year.
Smith probably won't lead the team in steals this year, but his 18 steals would have led the team in 15 of the past 16 seasons.
Last year, SIU stole 38 bags total.

AWARD ALREADY

Ryan Netemeyer is one of 21 semifinalists for the National Pitcher of the Year, presented by the College Baseball Foundation.
Netemeyer is also a semifinalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year award, presented to the nation's top closer.
- Netemeyer ranks second in the NCAA with 14 saves this season. Minnesota's Brian Glowicki leads the nation with 15.
Nick Hutchins earned a spot on the Johnny Bench Award Watch List, given annually to the nation's top catcher.
Ryan Sabo, who will graduate Saturday with a perfect 4.0 GPA in finance, was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
Chad Whitmer has twice been named the MVC Pitcher of the Week.
- Whitmer struck out 13 in a complete game 2-1 win at Indiana State. He struck out eight in eight innings of last week's 4-1 win over Dallas Baptist.
- Whitmer's 13 strikeouts at Indiana State were the most for a Saluki since P.J. Finigan--now SIU's pitching coach--had 17 against Chicago State in 2005.
- Whitmer struck out eight in eight innings of one-run ball against Dallas Baptist. The Salukis won the game, 4-1, and Whitmer earned his second MVC Pitcher of the Week honor.
- Whitmer has 39 strikeouts in his last four starts (31.1 innings).
Netemeyer also earned MVC Pitcher of the Week once this year. Netemeyer pitched 3.2 no-hit innings while picking up three saves. (one at Arkansas State and two at Illinois.)

RE-WRITING THE RECORD BOOKS

Logan Blackfan has 51 career doubles, which is tied for a school record.
Blackfan led the MVC with 23 doubles last year as a sophomore after hitting 19 doubles as a freshman in 2015.
Ryan Netemeyer has a school-record 14 saves this season, breaking Al Levine's mark of 13 saves in 1990.
Two of the top three single-season saves mark are by Netemeyer. His 14 saves this year are a school record, and he had 12 saves last year.
Netemeyer's 27 career saves...
- Rank second in SIU career history. (Bryant George (2007-10) holds the career record with 30.)
- Rank 8th among active players in Division I baseball
- Rank 2nd among active juniors in Division I baseball.
Jacob Williams is SIU's most experienced reliever with 82 career appearances. He is ranks sixth on SIU's career appearances list.
Connor Kopach has stolen 30 bases this year, the most for any Saluki since Bob Geary stole 34 in 1991. Southern's stolen base record is 42 by Bert Newman in 1976.
Two Salukis tied program single-game records earlier this year...
Greg Lambert hit three doubles at Southeast Missouri (4/25)
Connor Kopach stole four bases against Tennessee Tech (4/23)
Chad Whitmer will enter the top-10 at SIU in career innings pitched this week. Whitmer has 260 career innings, just two shy of the top 10 at SIU.
Whitmer surpassed 200 career strikeouts last weekend. Whitmer is the 10th player in SIU history with 200 career strikeouts, and just the third since 2000.
Lambert has an MVC-high 20 doubles this year. He's the ninth player in SIU history with a 20-double season. He's within striking distance of the SIU single-season record of 24 doubles, set by Chris Serritella in 2012.