Salukis set for MVC Tournament

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The SIU baseball program will host the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament for the first time since 1986. The Salukis open the tournament on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Bradley. Tickets are $10 per game at the gate for the general seating bowl, or $50 for an all-session ticket to The Hill. Every game of the tournament will be broadcast nationally on ESPN+.

Tournament Info » Championship Central | Bracket | Ticket Info

SIU's opening game » Wednesday, May 26 | 7 p.m. | Itchy Jones Stadium | ESPN+ | Listen (web site) | Listen (TuneIn) | Radio: Magic 95.1-FM | Live Stats

PROBABLE STARTERS

SIU LHP Brad Harrison (8-0, 3.70 ERA, 88K, 24BB, 75.1 IP)
BU RHP Matt Hamilton (5-1, 4.61 ERA, 45K, 13BB, 54.2 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

SIU hosts the 2021 MVC Tournament. The No. 4 seed Salukis face the third-seeded Bradley Braves at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night in the opening round. SIU is hosting the tournament for the first time since 1986.
The tournament format is a single-elimination play-in game for the Nos. 5-8 seeds on Tuesday. After that, the remaining six teams will play a double-elimination format. SIU, by virtue of its No. 4 seed, has advanced into the double-elimination portion of the bracket.
SIU's 38 wins are the seventh-most in the nation this year and the most for SIU as a program since 2005 (38-21). With a win, SIU would win 39+ games in the season for the first time since 1990 (49-14). This year, only Arkansas (42), Tennessee (42), Texas (40), Mississippi State (40), Vanderbilt (39) and Charlotte (39) have won more games than SIU.
Seven SIU players earned spots on the All-Conference teams: Brad Harrison (Starting Pitcher, First Team), Cody Cleveland (2B, Second Team), Nick Neville (SS, Second Team), J.T. Weber (OF, Second Team), Tristan Peters (OF, Second Team), Trey McDaniel (Relief Pitcher, Second Team), and Philip Archer (1B, Honorable Mention. Peters was also named to the All-Defensive Team.
SIU head coach Lance Rhodes won his 50th career game on Saturday against Dallas Baptist. Rhodes (50-24) is the fastest SIU baseball coach to 50 wins since Itchy Jones.
SIU has hit 74 home runs this year, the second-most in program history. SIU hit 75 homers in 1997.
Dawg Bites: SIU won 10 of its last 14 MVC games after starting conference play 5-9 ... SIU has pitched four shutouts in its last 15 games ... J.T. Weber has hit in 21 of his last 24 games (nine multi-hit games in that span) ... Cody Cleveland started the year 4-for-28 (.143) and is 38-for-91 (.418) since then ... SIU has turned 44 double plays, which leads the MVC. SIU has led the MVC in turning double plays seven times in the last nine seasons (also led MVC in 2013, 14, 15, 17, 18, and 2020) ... Only two teams in the nation have four players with 105+ total bases: LSU and SIU.
Magic at Itchy Jones Stadium: SIU is 24-8 at Itchy Jones Stadium this year and 29-8 at home under head coach Lance Rhodes. Dating back to 2018, SIU is 60-21 in its last 81 home games.
In the regular season, SIU led the MVC in batting average (.293), double plays (44), doubles (107), hits (551), runs (403), shutouts (6), and triples (16). SIU ranked second in walks (239), HBP (61), home runs (74), runs per game (7.2), slugging percentage (.485), stolen bases (63), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.30:1).
SIU statistical top-20 national rankings (292 teams): hits (3rd), runs (8th), double plays (12th), shutouts (13th), home runs (14th), slugging percentage (15th), doubles (17th), and triples (20th).
SIU individuals who led the MVC in statistical categories during the regular season: Tristan Peters in walks and hits, Philip Archer and Tristan Peters in doubles, Nick Neville in runs scored, Trey McDaniel in pitching appearances and saves, J.T. Weber in RBIs and sac flies.
SIU is 8-3 against top-55 RPI teams (.727), with seven of those 11 games being true road games. SIU went 6-1 (.857) in true road games against top-55 RPI teams, outscoring those opponents 61-30.
If DBU (RPI #52) and Mercer (RPI #53) jump into the top-50 of the RPI, that would give SIU eight Quad 1 wins, which would be the second-most for any non-Power 5 team in the nation (Old Dominion has 13 Quad 1 wins).

For a complete set of game notes in PDF format, click here.

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Philip Archer

Cody Cleveland

Brad Harrison

Trey McDaniel

Nick Neville

Tristan Peters

J.T. Weber

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