SIU hosts #27 DBU on Senior Weekend

Southern Illinois (23-25, 4-14 MVC) vs. #27 Dallas Baptist (36-15, 12-6 MVC) // May 16-18, 2019 // Carbondale, Ill. (Itchy Jones Stadium) // SIU Game Notes PDF

Southern Illinois hosts MVC co-leader No. 27 Dallas Baptist to Itchy Jones Stadium for the final regular season weekend. The Salukis will honor eight seniors prior to Saturday's 2 p.m. series finale, and all three games will be broadcast nationally on ESPN+.

Game 1 - Thursday, May 16 - 6:30 p.m. // ESPN+ | Audio (also on TuneIn) | Live Stats | Twitter

SIU RHP Mason Hiser (4-3, 4.96 ERA, 61.2 IP)
DBU LHP Jordan Martinson (7-3, 2.91 ERA, 80.1 IP)

Game 2 - Friday, May 17 - 6:30 p.m. // ESPN+ | Audio (also on TuneIn) | Live Stats | Twitter

SIU LHP Blake Begner (5-6, 5.93 ERA, 57.2 IP)
DBU RHP MD Johnson (8-2, 2.33 ERA, 81.0 IP)

Game 3 - Saturday, May 18 - 2 p.m. // ESPN+ | Audio (also on TuneIn) | Live Stats | Twitter

SIU RHP Matthew Steidl (3-2, 3.93 ERA, 36.2 IP)
DBU TBA

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois hosts #27 Dallas Baptist for a three-game series at Itchy Jones Stadium. The series across the MVC this week start on Thursday due to next week's MVC Tournament, which starts on Tuesday.
SIU will honor its eight seniors prior to Saturday's series finale.
Southern Illinois ranks third in the nation in stolen bases per game (2.79). Overall, SIU's 134 stolen bases rank fourth in the nation. SIU is five stolen bases shy of the school record, set by the 1971 College World Series team.
SIU Single-Season Stolen Base Record
1. 1971 (139)
2. 1974 (136)
3. 2019 (134)
4. 2018 (131)
SIU is 18-7 at Itchy Jones Stadium this season, the program's best record at home through 25 games since 2007. Since 2016, SIU is 27 games over .500 (69-42-1).
SIU has won six-straight home games, which is tied (with Dallas Baptist, among others) for the 16th longest active home winning streak in the nation.
6-4-3 charts lists SIU as the fastest team in the nation, top to bottom. Southern's "team speed score" (8.3) is tied with Southern for No. 1 in the country. The Speed Score is comprised of stolen bases, stolen base percentage, triples, runs scored, and avoiding GDPs.
The Salukis rank No. 33 nationally in offensive efficiency (runs/hits). SIU is scoring 0.737 runs per hit this year, which is second in the MVC behind DBU (18th, 0.749).
Trey McDaniel leads the MVC and ranks 12th nationally in saves with 12. McDaniel saved all three games of SIU's sweep of Evansville, becoming the first Saluki since Bryant George in 2007 to save every game of a series.
SIU ranks 15th nationally in sac flies with 31. Ian Walters ranks eighth in the country individually with seven.
J.T. Weber enters the series with a 10-game reached base streak. Weber is 6-for-9 in his last two games.
Dawg bites: SIU is 22-2 when leading or tied after six innings ... SIU is 14-2 when it allows four runs or fewer ... The Salukis are 18-4 when out-hitting an opponent, or when hits are tied ... SIU is 17-7 when it does not allow a home run.

MVC LEADERS

Team in sac flies (31)
Team in triples (17)
Team in stolen bases (134)
Team in fewest GDP (10)
Will LaRue is stolen bases (29)
Trey McDaniel in saves (12)
Ian Walters in sac flies (7)

RUN WITH US

"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." - SIU hitting coach Seth LaRue
Will LaRue has stolen 96 career bases, which ranks third in the NCAA among active players. Last season, SIU shortstop Connor Kopach spent the year as the NCAA's active career stolen base leader.
Since the start of the 2017 season, SIU has stolen 365 bases, which is fourth-most in the nation in that span. In the MVC, Dallas Baptist is second in the league in that span (197), trailing SIU by 168 bags.
Trend setters? Since SIU started its current aggressive base-stealing style in 2017, the other seven teams in the MVC have stolen 40 percent more bases.
Five SIU players are top-seven in the MVC in stolen bases. Will LaRue is first, Nikola Vasic is third, Ian Walters is fifth, Addison Fugitt is sixth and Alex Lyon is seventh.
Both Will LaRue and Ian Walters have tied the school record for stolen bases in a game with 4.

STREAKS & NOTES

Nikola Vasic has reached base in 91 of 106 career games (85%).
Ian Walters is 18-for-24 in getting a runner home from third with less than two outs (75%).
Addison Fugitt is 33-for-34 stealing in his career (97%). He was picked off and tried to advance on Feb. 27 at Belmont, snapping a streak of 18-straight stolen bases without being caught to start his career. He still has not been traditionally caught stealing in his career, and is 15-for-15 since then.
J.T. Weber is hitting .538 (7-for-13) in his last three games. He has raised his batting average 27 points in that span.
Will LaRue has reached base 3+ times in four-straight games.
Justin Yeager has not allowed a run in his last five appearances (8.1 IP). Over that period, the junior has given up a mere two hits and one walk while striking out eight.

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Players Mentioned

Blake Begner

Addison Fugitt

Mason Hiser

Connor Kopach

Will LaRue

Alex Lyon

Trey McDaniel

Matthew Steidl

Nikola Vasic

Ian Walters

J.T. Weber

Justin Yeager

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