SIU visits Valley-leading Bears for weekend series

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (25-23, 8-7 MVC) at MISSOURI STATE (30-14, 13-2 MVC) // May 11-13, 2018 // Springfield, Mo. (Weather) // Hammons Field (8,000 // Grass) // SIU Game Notes PDF

With only two weeks left in the regular season, SIU travels to MVC-leading Missouri State for a three-game series in Springfied, Mo. SIU will appear on the brand-new ESPN+, which requires a $4.99 monthly subscription. All games in the MVC Tournament will also be on ESPN+.

GAME 1 - Friday, May 11 // 6:30 p.m. // ESPN+ | Stats | Listen Online | 105.1-FM WVZA

SIU RHP Michael Baird (5-3, 2.84 ERA, 82.1 IP)
MSU RHP Dylan Coleman (7-2, 4.08 ERA, 75.0 IP)

GAME 2 - Saturday, May 12 // 2 p.m. // ESPN+ | Stats | Listen Online | 1300-AM and 95.5-FM in southern Illinois

SIU LHP Brad Harrison (5-4, 4.24 ERA, 68.0 IP)
MSU RHP Logan Wiley (6-4, 3.29 ERA, 63.0 IP)

GAME 3 - Sunday, May 13 // 1 p.m. // Stats | Listen Online | 1300-AM and 95.5-FM in southern Illinois

SIU TBD
MSU RHP Ty Buckner (5-4, 4.08, 57.1 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois visits MVC-leading Missouri State for the final road series of the regular season.
SIU lost all four games against Missouri State last season, but the Salukis swept a three-game series at MSU in 2016.
Since the MVC started playing three-game series (instead of four-game series) in 2005, the Salukis are 11-9 against Missouri State in games played in Springfield, Mo.
In MVC play, Missouri State (2.98) and Southern Illinois (3.62) have the league's top-two team ERAs.
In his last five starts (including road starts at Dallas Baptist and Tennessee Tech), Michael Baird has a 1.25 ERA in 36 innings. On the season, Baird's 2.84 ERA leads the league among all pitchers with at least 50 innings (Baird has pitched 82.1 innings).
Ryan Netemeyer has 37 career saves, which is second all-time in MVC history, passing Missouri State's Bryan Young (2014-17).
Logan Blackfan had his 21-game hitting streak snapped at Evansville, the longest for an SIU player since Chris Serritella had a 24-game hitting streak in 2012.
Blackfan's 21-game hitting streak is tied for the fourth-longest hitting streak in SIU history.
Connor Kopach was named to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award, given to the nation's top shortstop.
Alex Lyon has earned MVC Player of the Week twice this season. Most recently, Lyon was 7-for-14 with two doubles, a triple, 5 RBIs and four stolen bases two weeks ago in SIU's sweep at Evansville to earn the honor.
Nikola Vasic has reached base in 44 of the last 46 games. He had a 27-game reached base streak snapped against Valpo, but he followed that up by reaching base in 17-straight games, a streak that was snapped Sunday vs. Indiana State.
SIU ranks fourth nationally in stolen bases with 111.
Among active players, Connor Kopach ranks second nationally in career stolen bases (77), and Logan Blackfan ranks third in career doubles (66).

HOW ESPN+ AFFECTS SALUKI BASEBALL

Disney announced the addition of "ESPN+" -- a streaming service that was integrated into the ESPN app on April 12.
ESPN+ costs $4.99 per month.
As part of the Missouri Valley Conference's agreement with ESPN, several Saluki Athletics events will be made exclusive to ESPN+.
In the future, SIU games will be noted as "ESPN3" or "ESPN+". Both are available through the ESPN app.
- ESPN3 games remain free on the ESPN app with a conventional cable or satellite subscription that includes ESPN.
- ESPN+ games require an additional subscription of $4.99 per month.
In 2018, the following SIU baseball games will be on ESPN+.
- May 11-12 at Missouri State
- All games in the 2018 MVC Tournament

RUN WITH US

SIU has stolen 111 bases through 48 games, which ranks fourth nationally. Already, SIU has stolen the fourth-most bases in SIU history and the most since 1981.
1. 1971 (139)
2. 1975 (135)
3. 1981 (119)
4. 2018 (111)
Since the start of the 2017 season, SIU has 211 stolen bases. Missouri State is second in the MVC during that span with 109.
SIU was just 4-for-8 stealing last week against Indiana State, which leads the MVC in fewest steals allowed. In the previous 35 games, SIU was 86-for-100 stealing bases.
Connor Kopach and Alex Lyon are tied for the MVC lead with 26 stolen bases this year, which ranks 14th nationally.
Alex Lyon tied an SIU single-game record with four stolen bases against Austin Peay. Kopach also holds that record, having stolen four bases against Tennessee Tech last year.
Four of the top six base stealers in the MVC are Salukis: Kopach and Lyon (26) are tied for first, Nikola Vasic (17) is fifth and Addison Fugitt (15) is sixth.

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Players Mentioned

Michael Baird

Logan Blackfan

Addison Fugitt

Brad Harrison

Connor Kopach

Alex Lyon

Ryan Netemeyer

Nikola Vasic

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