Salukis host Belmont on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, March 26

Carbondale, Ill.

5 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Belmont

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03/25/2019 | 8:18:00 | Baseball

Southern Illinois (13-9) vs. Belmont (12-11) // Tuesday, March 26 // 5 p.m. // Carbondale, Ill. (Itchy Jones Stadium) // SIU Game Notes PDF

The Southern Illinois baseball team puts its 10-2 home record on the line against Belmont on Tuesday evening at Itchy Jones Stadium. SIU is off to its hottest home start since 2008 and is looking to sweep the mid-week home-and-home series from Belmont after winning 13-9 in Nashville earlier in the year.

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PITCHING PROBABLES

SIU RHP Matthew Steidl (1-1, 4.76 ERA, 11.1 IP)
BEL RHP Aaron Hubbell (0-2, 2.45 ERA, 3.2 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois hosts Belmont for a 5 p.m. game on Tuesday, March 26. The game will be streamed nationally on ESPN+. Starting with the Belmont game, nine-straight SIU home games will be streamed on ESPN+, and 14 of the final 17 home games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Matthew Steidl is expected to make his second career start. Steidl threw three scoreless innings in his first career start March 13 against Southeast Missouri, striking out two and walking none.
SIU has stolen 63 bases, which ranks fourth in the nation. Will LaRue (24th), Nikola Vasic (33rd), Ian Walters (74th) and Addison Fugitt (99th) all rank in the top-100 nationally in stolen bases per game. SIU stole six bases in the first game against Belmont this season.
SIU has hit 18 sacrifice flies, which leads the nation. Ian Walters ranks second in the nation with five sacrifice flies.
Walters had a seven-game hitting streak earlier in the year, which is the longest for any Saluki in 2019. His six multi-RBI games leads the team, and his six multi-hit games rank second on the team.
Trey McDaniel ranks sixth in the NCAA with seven saves.
SIU is 4-1 in mid-week games this year. Dating back to the start of the 2018 season, Southern Illinois is 14-4 in mid-week games.
Sam Grace is the MVC Pitcher of the Week. He pitched eight shutout innings, allowing just two hits, last week out of the bullpen. He is the first freshman on record to earn MVC Pitcher of the Week.
Dawg Bites: Grey Epps has reached base in 17-straight games, the longest streak for any SIU player this year ... Mason Hiser's walk rate (1.9%) is 9th-best in the nation and leads the MVC (min. 20 innings) ... SIU is 12-3 in its last 15 games against unranked opponents ... Dating back to the end of last season, SIU is 12-2 in its last 14 home games ... SIU is 10-2 at home this year, which is the best home start for the program since going 10-2 in the first 12 home games of the 2008 season. If SIU wins and improves to 11-2 at home, it will be the best home start since starting the 2007 season 15-1 at home ... SIU is outscoring opponents 35-12 in the first two innings ... Of the eight MVC baseball programs, seven are ranked in the top-105 of the RPI. SIU, at #99, is one of six in the top-100. The MVC is ranked as the #5 conference in the nation by RPI, ahead of the Big Ten, American, Mountain West, etc. (The only conferences ahead of the MVC are the SEC, Big 12, Pac 12 and ACC.) ... SIU has won three-straight one-run games. The Salukis are 6-3 in one-run games (4-0 at home).