Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Rhodes announces 2021 baseball schedule
02/01/2021 | 9:00:00 | Baseball
Schedule Page | Printable Schedule
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki Baseball program unveiled its 2021 schedule, head coach Lance Rhodes announced today. The schedule features at least 30Â home games and culminates in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which SIU will host May 26-29 at Itchy Jones Stadium.
"We are extremely excited about our 2021 schedule," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We had to make some adjustments so we would be more regionalized with our travel, but we still feel like we put together a challenging slate to get us prepared for MVC play."
For 2021, the Missouri Valley Conference has instituted several changes for the season. Teams will play four-game conference series, rather than the traditional three-game series used in past seasons. MVC teams will play four games in three days, with the middle day of the series serving as the doubleheader day. The first game of the doubleheaders will be a seven-inning game. If that first seven-inning game goes into nine ore more innings, the second game of the doubleheader will automatically become a seven-inning game.
Additionally, the conference tournament has been shortened to four days and will feature the top-six teams, rather than all eight teams. For regular season MVC games, the conference will use the NCAA recommendation to place a runner on second base in extra-innings. This option will be pre-determined by head coaches for non-conference games.
The Salukis open the season with a three-game series at Tennessee Tech (Feb. 19-21). After a Feb. 23 game at Austin Peay, the Salukis have a three-game set at Mercer Feb. 26-28. Mercer was 13-3 last season prior to the cancellation of the season.
After the seven-game road trip to start the season, SIU's home opening weekend is March 5-7 vs. UT Martin. Starting with the series against the Skyhawks, SIU is home for six-straight weekends and is at home for 22Â of the next 23 games. SIU hosts Western Illinois (March 9), Evansville (March 12-14), and Marshall (March 19-21).
After a mid-week game at SEMO (March 23), SIU has another 11-game home stand with weekends hosting Little Rock (March 26-27), Illinois State (April 2-4), and Bellarmine (April 9) and Northern Illinois (April 10-11); the Salukis host Austin Peay on April 6.
"We are really happy to be able to play at the comfort of our own ballpark at least 30 times this year," Rhodes said. "The biggest challenge we have is adjusting to four-game conference weekends."
Because of the four-game MVC series, the Salukis have only five mid-week games this year. In addition to the mid-week games already mentioned, SIU hosts UT Martin (April 20) and travel to Murray State (May 11).
The Salukis have road series at Bradley (April 16-18), Valparaiso (April 23-25), Evansville (May 7-9) and Indiana State (May 14-16). SIU's May 7-9 series at Evansville will be a non-conference series, with the March 12-14 games against the Aces at Itchy Jones Stadium counting towards the league records.
The regular season concludes with a four-game slate against Dallas Baptist May 20-22 before the league tournament. SIU will host the conference tournament for the first time since 1986.
"The depth on the pitching side will be crucial for us to compete for an MVC championship," Rhodes said. "It has been a long time since we were on the field for a game that meant something, and we look forward competing."
SIU has the ability to add one more game to the schedule. SIU's attendance policies and television package will be announced at a later date.
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