SIU hosts NIU for three-game series

Friday, March 8

Carbondale, Ill.

3 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Northern Illinois

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03/07/2019 | 2:08:00 | Baseball

By: By Alex Underwood, SIUSalukis.com

NORTHERN ILLINOIS (2-9) at SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (6-4) || March 8-10, 2019 || 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. Live stats will be provided for all three games.

GAME 1 - Friday, March 8 // 3 p.m. // Live Stats

SIU LHP Brad Harrison (1-1, 2.50 ERA, 18.0 IP)
NIU LHP Erik Hedmark (0-1, 2.77 ERA, 13.0 IP)

GAME 2 - Saturday, March 9 // 2 p.m. // Live Stats

SIU RHP Dylan Givens (2-0, 1.33 ERA, 20.1 IP)
NIU RHP Michael Lasiewicz (1-2, 7.04 ERA, 15.1 IP)

GAME 3 - Sunday, March 10 // 1 p.m. // Live Stats

SIU LHP Blake Begner (1-1, 4.50 ERA, 14.0 IP)
NIU LHP Ty Jandrowski (0-2, 6.23 ERA, 13.0 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois hosts Northern Illinois for a three-game series from Mar. 8-10 at Itchy Jones Stadium. Live stats for all three games are available at SIUSalukis.com/baseball/schedule.
Southern leads the all-time series, 60-32. SIU hosted NIU for a three-game series last season and won all three.
Against NIU last season, Trey McDaniel and Mason Hiser earned their first career wins at SIU.
Alex Lyon was the star of the series, as he went 7-for-12 with five RBI and four stolen bases.
SIU is 3-0 at Itchy Jones Stadium this season. Last weekend, SIU swept Western Illinois in their home opening series. The Southern pitching staff limited WIU to one run in all three games. On offense, SIU averaged 10 runs per game.
The Salukis have already stolen an MVC-best 34 bases this season. At SEMO, SIU stole a season-high nine bases. Ian Walters, who came into the game with two steals, tied the SIU record for steals in a game with four.
Will LaRue leads SIU and the Missouri Valley Conference with nine stolen bases. He has yet to be caught stealing this season and is the NCAA active leader in career steals. LaRue's nine steals rank 11th in NCAA Division I.
Nikola Vasic has used his speed to his advantage as well. The senior's 13 runs scored rank first in the MVC and his seven stolen bases are second to LaRue.
Dylan Givens tops the MVC in innings pitched (20.1) and ranks fourth in earned run average (1.33). In his last two starts, Givens has an ERA of 0.60 in 15.0 innings.
Junior transfer Philip Archer holds an active reached base streak of 10 games. The streak is the highest on the team. Archer also leads SIU in batting average (.357), on-base plus slugging (.876) and hits (15).
Walters tops the MVC in runs batted in through 10 games He has drove in eight in the past five games and has 11 on the season.
The SIU defense has not committed an error in three-straight games. Vasic has been an anchor for the defense at second base. Vasic holds a perfect fielding percentage on 43 chances and has helped turn five double plays.
After playing primarily at third base last season, J.T. Weber transitioned to first base and has yet to commit an error.

MVC LEADERS

» Team in stolen bases (34)
» Team in caught stealing by (7)
» Team in fewest doubles allowed (11)
» Team in sac flies (6)
» Nikola Vasic in runs scored (13)
» Ian Walters in RBI (11)
» Will LaRue is steals (9)
» Dylan Givens in innings pitched (20.1)

SCOUTING NIU

Northern Illinois is 2-9 on the season. They were most recently swept by Kansas in a three-game home series.
NIU's two wins came against Belmont (7-5) and Middle Tennessee (3-2, 10 inn.).
As a team, NIU averages 2.53 runs per game and holds an ERA of 6.83.
Saturday's starting pitcher, Michael Lasiewicz, is top returnee for the Huskies. Last year, he ranked sixth in the MAC with 82 strikeouts and had an ERA of 3.83.
Northern went 20-36 and 9-18 in conference play last season.
The Huskies have not had a winning season since 2011, when they went 30-27.