SIU makes first-ever trip to Valpo

Friday, May 10

Valparaiso, Ind.

3 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Valparaiso

05/09/2019 | 7:12:00 | Baseball

Southern Illinois (22-22, 4-11 MVC) vs. Valparaiso (10-32, 3-12 MVC) // May 10-12, 2019 // Valparaiso, Ind. (Bauer Field) // SIU Game Notes PDF

The Southern Illinois baseball program will make its first-ever trip to Valparaiso this weekend. The Crusaders joined the league last year and came to Carbondale. The teams played just three times before Valpo joined the MVC, with none of those games being played at Bauer field.

Game 1 - Friday, May 10 - 3 p.m. // No Video | Audio (also on TuneIn) | Live Stats | Twitter

SIU RHP Mason Hiser (4-3, 5.43 ERA, 56.1 IP)
VALPO RHP Jon Tieman (2-8, 5.25 ERA, 70.1 IP)

Game 2 - Saturday, May 11 - 1 p.m. // No Video | Audio (also on TuneIn) | Live Stats | Twitter

SIU LHP Blake Begner (5-5, 5.64 ERA, 52.2 IP)
VALPO RHP Zach Fricke (2-3, 6-40 ERA, 45.0 IP)

Game 3 - Sunday, May 12 - 1 p.m. // No Video | Audio (also on TuneIn) | Live Stats | Twitter

RHP Matthew Steidl (3-1, 3.38 ERA, 32.0 IP)
VALPO LHP Jarrett Hammel (1-4, 5.80 ERA, 35.2 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

SIU takes a five-game winning streak into the series, tied for the 12th longest active winning streak in the nation. SIU's five game home winning streak is tied for the 16th-longest active home winning streak in the country.
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.
Southern Illinois ranks third in the nation in stolen bases per game (2.80). Overall, SIU's 123 stolen bases rank fifth in the nation.
The Salukis rank No. 42 nationally in offensive efficiency. SIU is scoring 0.728 runs per hit this year, which is second in the MVC behind DBU (35th, 0.733).
Trey McDaniel leads the MVC and ranks seventh nationally in saves with 12. McDaniel saved all three games of last weekend's sweep of Evansville, becoming the first Saluki since Bryant George in 2007 to save every game of a series.
Aiden McMahan is the reigning MVC Player of the Week. McMahan had 12 RBIs in SIU's 5-0 week, hitting .417.
SIU ranks ninth nationally in sac flies with 31. Ian Walters ranks sixth in the country individually with seven.
Alex Lyon is hitting .362 since March 26 (21 games).
In last weekend's sweep of Evansville, Blake Begner, Justin Yeager, Trey McDaniel and Sam Grace combined for a 0.00 ERA over 14.1 innings. Adding in Matthew Steidl (1R in 5IP), the quintet had an 0.47 ERA in 19.1 innings.
Dawg Bites: SIU is 21-2 when leading or tied after six innings ... SIU is 16-5 when it doesn't allow a home run ... SIU is 14-1 when it allows four runs or fewer (and has won 14-straight such games. The lone loss was 3-2 in 14 innings on the second day of the season) ... The Salukis are 17-3 when out-hitting an opponent, or when hits are tied ... SIU jumped 42 spots in the RPI last week, the biggest jump in the nation ... SIU is .500 against both right- and left-handed starters. SIU is 10-10 against southpaws and 12-12 against righties.

MVC LEADERS

Team in sac flies (31)
Team in triples (17)
Team in stolen bases (123)
Will LaRue is stolen bases (24)
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 91 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 354 bases, which is fourth-most in the nation in that span. In the MVC, Dallas Baptist is second in the league in that span (194), trailing SIU by 160 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-six in the MVC in stolen bases. Will LaRue is first, Nikola Vasic is third, Addison Fugitt is fifth, while Ian Walters and Alex Lyon are each tied for sixth.

STREAKS & NOTES

Nikola Vasic has reached base in 87 of 102 career games (85%).
Ian Walters has reached base in 35 of 44 games this year. In 4 of the 9 games Walters has not reached base, he has still recorded at least one RBI.
Ian Walters is 16-for-22 in getting a runner home from third with less than two outs (72%).
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.
Trey McDaniel has pitched one-plus innings and allowed no hits and runs while recording at least one strikeout in 11 of 23 appearances this season.
Trey McDaniel has allowed no runs and only one hit while striking out 11 in his last six appearances (7.0 IP).
Aiden McMahan has driven in runs in four-straight games and has 12 RBI's in that span. Prior to the four-game stretch, he had 12 RBI's in 22 starts.