Feature | Salukis Look to Play Simple and Smart Baseball in 2024

Southern Illinois baseball finished 30-27 and finished tied for third in the Missouri Valley Conference a year ago. Only eight players are returning to the squad this spring, but fifth-year head coach Lance Rhodes is prepared for the frequent shifts in rosters and says it comes with the current state of college baseball.

"I think with the way that transfers are happening right now at the Division I level with the portal -- the trend is probably going to be a roster where half of it transfers out due to graduation every couple of years," Rhodes explained. "So, you know, I think turnover is going to be a part of the game."

Although there will be a lot of players wearing maroon for the first time, there is still experience throughout this year's team. The 2024 Salukis consists of juniors and seniors entirely, which Rhodes expects his club to benefit from.

"You're going to see a lot of new faces around the field. A lot of faces that have played college baseball, it's just either been at another Division I school, or it's been at a junior college, so we have experience, just not experience with the SIU uniform," he said. "But I think that'll benefit us once we get started in games. I think we'll be able to calm the nerves and play well."

The team has meshed well with the assortment of fresh faces in the clubhouse, with newcomers acclimating to the new environment and returning Salukis giving their new teammates a warm welcome.

"The one thing that's been nice here is our new guys have come in and mixed in well with the returners that we have, and I think that they've become really good friends over the course of this year," Rhodes said.

First baseman Matt Schark resonated with this sentiment and says he has enjoyed the process of welcoming new guys to the team. He along with some other returning players have upped the ante of being vocal leaders on the club and he says it has made the new players more comfortable.

"I'm definitely excited about this team. You know, there's about half new guys, half returners and I think the returners really stepped up in a leadership role compared to last year," Schark said. "We might not have had like the big leader out there, but I think we really stepped in that role and helped guys fit in really well."

SIU's offense performed well last season, ranking first in average (.285) and stolen bases (72) while ranking second in slugging (.476) in the Valley. After losing some big offensive contributors due to graduation, Rhodes pointed Schark out along with catcher Cole Christman as guys he expects to play big roles in the heart of the SIU lineup this season. Christman hit to the tune of .295 with a .885 OPS last season while hitting eight home runs and driving in 35 runs.

Schark impressed at the plate in 2023, hitting .277 with a .930 OPS as he knocked out 11 homers and drove in 32. He mentioned that he pressed a little at the beginning of last season and was able to make adjustments by the year's end.

"I think at the beginning, I kind of put too much pressure on myself…and I think towards the end of the year, I got more comfortable in the box and helped my team win," Schark said.

Along with strong offseason work, he is ready to help the Dawgs out in the best way possible.

"I definitely put in a lot of work this offseason and before the season. I worked with my hitting coach just about every single day that I could," he said. "And I think little things in my swing have changed for the better, and I think they'll translate better this season than in years past."

Rhodes envisions more improvement in these areas for the Dawgs to be more well-rounded in 2024, scoring runs at a high clip while winning close games with their guys on the mound and sharp defense behind them.

"Where I'm hoping we take the next step and become a better team is I hope that our pitching staff takes a step forward from where we've been in the past where we're not just relying on scoring a bunch of runs to win games where we can win games, pitching, and defense, and kind of win in all three phases," Rhodes said. "I think our pitching staff's been throwing the ball incredibly well this preseason, and I'm excited to see them go out and pitch against another opponent and that's probably going to be the biggest key to our season, whether we have a good season or a great season, is how well we pitch the ball."

Jake Combs is set up to be the ace of the staff after leading the team in ERA (2.97) and innings pitched (63.2). The right-hander made the All-MVC Second Team in 2023 and was recently named Preseason All-MVC for 2024.

Another big arm for the pitching staff will be Mike Hansell, who is returning to action after missing last season with arm surgery. It was a long road for the 6 '4 righty, who will work out of the bullpen to begin the year.

"It was just a whole year of grinding rehab and grinding, lifting, throwing every day, getting after it for a couple of hours doing everything I can to make my arm feel best," Hansell said. "I'll be a bullpen guy to start the season and kind of expect to get in there and just dominate and help the team win every game I'm in, whether that be once a weekend, twice a weekend, you know, as much as I can."

After doing intrasquad workouts all offseason, there is confidence in what the Salukis can do, and they are ready to compete in game action.

"There are some really competitive individuals in there and I'm excited to see us go out," Rhodes said. "We've been playing against each other for a long time so it's going to be nice to be able to put one team together on our side and be able to go face somebody else."

Hansell also likes what he sees from the team, both offensively and pitching-wise.

"We've prepared well for the season, and I expect it to go well. The pitching staff looks good, the hitting looks good, and playing those guys all fall, I expect the hitters to be really good this year," he said.

Rhodes wants his team to be calculated in their approach and simplify things because he knows if they take care of the little things, then the rest will come with their talent level.

"The one thing that we're focusing on this year…is play simple and play smart. And that's kind of the message that we are talking to our guys every single day," he said. "We've got a lot of ability on our team…we just need to play the game extremely smart, know what's going to happen before the ball is put in play, run through situations in your head, communicate on the field, have an at-bat that helps your teammate on deck, those type of things. And if we can do that, then our ability level is good enough to where you know we have a chance to win a lot of games."

SIU was picked to finish fifth in the MVC's Preseason poll which Schark says will be used as motivation and their approach will be to not look too far ahead.

"I think we're just going to take it one game at a time really -- we have high expectations for the season, you know, people are doubting us right now, we're fifth in preseason rankings," he said. "But I think we all know that's wrong, and we're just going to show it in the season."

The Dawgs are focused and keyed in on playing together in order to win as a team.

"It's kind of that just hard-nosed mentality, you know, kind of gritty…in to get the job done and with the pitching staff especially if one guy falters, the next guy is going to pick him up," Hansell said. "That's kind of the mentality I expect in this team. We're a team and we're going to work together as a team."

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Feature | Salukis Look to Play Simple and Smart Baseball in 2024

Players Mentioned

Cole Christman

Jake Combs

Mike Hansell

Matt Schark

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