SIU hosts NIU for three-game series

Friday, March 9

Carbondale, Ill.

3 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Northern Illinois

Buy Tickets

03/08/2018 | 7:12:00 | Baseball

NORTHERN ILLINOIS (4-7) at SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (5-8) // March 9-11, 2018 // Carbondale, Ill. (Weather) // Itchy Jones Stadium (2,000 // Turf) // SIU Game Notes PDF

Southern Illinois hosts Northern Illinois for a three-game series at Itchy Jones Stadium. All three games will be streamed on ESPN3.

GAME 1 - Friday, March 9 // 3 p.m. // ESPN3 | Live Stats

SIU RHP Michael Baird (0-1, 3.50 ERA, 18.0 IP)
NIU LHP George Faue (0-3, 5.62 ERA, 16.0 IP)

Game 2 - Saturday, March 10 // 2 p.m. // ESPN3 | Live Stats

SIU LHP Jamison Steege (1-1, 3.57 ERA, 17.2 IP)
NIU RHP Tanner Foster (1-1, 0.71 ERA, 12.2 IP)

Game 3 - Sunday, March 11 // 1 p.m. // ESPN3 | Live Stats

SIU TBD
NIU RHP Michael Lasiewicz (2-1, 1.65 ERA, 16.1 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois hosts Northern Illinois for a three-game series at Itchy Jones Stadium. The series will be broadcast on ESPN3.
SIU leads the all-time series with Northern Illinois, 57-32. The Salukis and Huskies last played in 2016, with the teams splitting a pair of games.
Connor Kopach, Alex Lyon, and Logan Blackfan are all hitting .400 or better this season. Combined, the trio is hitting .413 (64-for-155). All three rank in the top-11 of the MVC in batting average. Blackfan (1st), Kopach (2nd) and Lyon (4th) represent three of the top three total bases leaders in the MVC, as well, and all three rank in the top-75 nationally.
Blackfan (13), Nikola Vasic (11), Addison Fugitt (9), Kopach (8) and Hunter Anderson (7) all have active reached base streaks of 7+ games.
SIU has already stolen 30 bases in 2018. The second- and third-best base stealing teams in the MVC have a combined 30 stolen bases.
In NCAA Division I, Kopach ranks second in stolen bases, eighth in hits, and ninth in runs.

MVC LEADERS

Connor Kopach in hits (24)
Kopach in runs scored (18)
Kopach in triples (2)
Kopach in stolen bases (11)
Alex Lyon in RBIs (16)
Lyon in sacrifice flies (3)
Logan Blackfan in home runs (4)
Blackfan in total bases (36)
Brad Harrison in opponent batting avg. (.095)
Harrison in innings pitched (22.0)
Harrison in batters struck out (28)
Harrison in wins (3)
Harrison in fewest hits allowed (7)
Trey McDaniel in appearances (7)
Team in triples (4)
Team in sacrifice flies (11)
Team in stolen bases (30)
Team in pitching strikeouts (103)

PITCHING PICKS UP

SIU pitching is giving away just 4.1 free passes per game in 2018 (walks or HBP), more than a runner difference from 2017 (5.5 free passes per game).
SIU has issued two or fewer walks in eight of its 13 games.
SIU allowed 17 earned runs in the first two games of the season. Since then, the staff ERA is 3.87 and six different pitchers have ERAs under 3.00.
Sophomore left-hander Brad Harrison was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Harrison pitched a 2-hit shutout at Belmont on Feb. 27.
Harrison, who has a 3.76 GPA in civil engineering, was also named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
Harrison followed up his performance at Belmont with eight shutout innings at SEMO this past Tuesday. Harrison has an active streak of 18-consecutive scoreless innings.
During his 18-inning scoreless streak, Harrison has 26 strikeouts against only one walk, and opponents are hitting just 3-for-58 against him (.053).

SALUKI SENIORS AMONG ACTIVE LEADERS IN NCAA DIVISION I

Southern Illinois returns only four major contributors from the 2017 team -- Michael Baird, Logan Blackfan, Connor Kopach and Ryan Netemeyer.
Each of the four has been one of the best in the country at his respective role for the duration of his career. Among active Division I players...
- Michael Baird ranks 8th in innings pitched.
- Logan Blackfan ranks 2nd in doubles.
- Connor Kopach ranks 3rd in stolen bases and sixth in triples
- Ryan Netemeyer ranks 4th in saves.