Saluki Baseball Conversation | Seth LaRue - Southern Illinois University Athletics

Assistant coach Seth LaRue is entering is third year at Southern Illinois. We sat down with the Saluki hitting coach to talk about the 2019 offense, finishing fourth in the nation in stolen bases last year, coaching his brother, and much more.

Give fans some background information about yourself.

I was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana. I have two brothers, Hank and Will. I had a baseball upbringing. All three of us played Division I baseball. My dad played and coached at Southern Indiana and was a Legion coach. My grandpa played pro ball and was a Legion coach, as well. It's always been a baseball family. I went to junior college at Olney Central College and finished my career at Campbell University, where we went to an NCAA Regional and had the first win in Campbell's NCAA Tournament history. There was a lot of buzz on campus. It was a fun time to be down there. After my playing career, I spent a couple more years at Campbell as a graduate assistant, and then came to SIU.

You mentioned your brother Will, who is now a graduate transfer on the SIU baseball team. What's it like to coach your brother?

It's a great thing that came out of a bad situation. He had a great career at Xavier, but he had to deal with injuries at the end. He loved it there. They had a great group and had a lot of success. Obviously, you don't imagine being set back by injuries. That being said, it's a great fit for us and what we need. He fits really well into our style of play and brings a lot of winning experience with him. Hopefully he can stay healthy this spring, and he will do a lot of really good things for us.

When you came to SIU, you helped implement the team's running game. How do you see that helping the team on the field?

When I played at Campbell, we did something similar, but we continue to add to and develop our system as we go. I really believe that base running is a huge part of baseball that, in a lot of cases, is overlooked. I think it wins and loses a lot of baseball games, even when it doesn't show up on the stat sheet. As much as anything, I think it has helped our mentality. We have become a much more aggressive team, in terms of how we approach the practices and games. It's been great for the identity of the team.

Last year you finished fourth in the nation in stolen bases. Is there a goal of leading the nation at some point?

No. It's fun to watch over the course of the year when we're up near the top of the country, but it all comes down to wins and losses. It's not about stolen base records; it's about how those stolen bases end up scoring runs. It creates a lot of havoc, and it helps create a lot of things offensively for our team that result in runs. At the end of the day, the wins and losses are what matters, not stolen bases, but it all ties together.

The team's batting average, walks and HBP all improved under your coaching. What's your philosophy there?

We talk a lot about pitch recognition, along with mentality and approach at the plate. As much as mechanics matter, I truly believe that a hitter with a bad swing can become a good hitter if they swing at good pitches. On the other side, guys with good swings won't produce if they swing at bad pitches. That's the most important part of hitting, and we talk about it a lot. It's brought us some success, but there's a lot we can continue to work on.

This year, the team returns most of the lineup but loses its two best hitters from last year, Connor Kopach and Logan Blackfan. With the returning guys and new players, what can fans expect from the 2019 offense?

We're really going to miss all the seniors, but Connor and Logan were our 3-4 hitters. That's never easy to replace. They were both All-Conference players. But we have a great core of guys coming back, along with some guys who platooned last year who will have a chance to become everyday guys. Grey (Epps) and JT (Weber) are really good and can step into some spots. We also brought in some really good players. Phil (Archer) was the GRAC Player of the Year, and Ian Walters probably would have won it, if not for Phil. We have a really good junior college class, along with Brady Michel, who hit fourth for his team, which went to the JuCo World Series. You have a great group there, and you add in Will (LaRue) and Colin (Butkiewicz), who have played at great programs. This group will be the deepest of any group I've been a part of. We lose a lot with Connor and Logan, but you add in a lot of really good players and really good athletes, which is exactly how we're trying to build this program. It's exciting to see those pieces fall into place. Now, we have to put together some good games and some good weeks, and try to make a run at this thing.

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Saluki Baseball Conversation | Seth LaRue

Players Mentioned

Logan Blackfan

Connor Kopach

Brady Michel

Ian Walters

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