Preview | Salukis Welcome Bellarmine for Final Regular Season Home Game Tuesday

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois baseball will close its 2024 home slate Tuesday night as the Salukis welcome ASUN conference member Bellarmine to Itchy Jones Stadium with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Luke Martin will have the radio call on the Varsity Network. Fans can also follow along via live stats or at @SIU_Baseball.

ON THE MOUND
Southern Illinois will throw Ben Riffe against Bellarmine. The right-hander has made 22 appearances and three starts this season for a 2-3 record. He holds a 4.45 ERA and has struck out 27 hitters in 28.1 innings.

QUICK HITS

Southern enters the weekend at 29-23 overall and 10-13 in Valley action.
The Salukis are coming off a weekend series win at home against Bradley, taking two of three from the Braves.
Eight Salukis have multi-hit games in 10 or more games this season led by Mathieu Vallee with 19 and Jordan Bach with 18 multi-hit games. Cole Christman has SIU's lone five-hit game of the season.Six Salukis have 10 or more multi-RBI games. Christman leads all hitters with 13 while Hesston Gray has 12, including four five-RBI games.
SIU's pitching staff has a 5.64 combined ERA with reliever Easton Dermody leading the team with a 3.08 ERA and a 4-1 record in 18 appearances out of the bullpen.
Saluki right-hander Aidan Foeller ranks among the nation's best in strikeouts with 91 on the year to lead the MVC and rank 28th nationally. Foeller also owns a 12.10 strikeouts per nine innings mark which is 29th-best in the country.

THE SERIES & MATCHUP

Bellarmine comes into play at 8-43 on the season and is 3-32 away from home.
The two programs have met just one time back in 2021 when the Salukis defeated the Knights 14-6 in Carbondale.
The Knights are batting .267 as a club and hold an 11.01 combined ERA.

MAKING HIS MARK

Infielder Steven Loden continues to lead the Salukis after returning from injury. The senior led SIU with a .563 average, a 1.125 slugging percentage, and a .556 on-base percentage as the Salukis finished the week 3-1. Loden hammered three home runs and drove in eight runners in four starts.

SAVE IT

Right-hander Anthony Pron is second in the MVC and ranks ninth nationally in saves with nine on the year.
The mark ties him for eighth in program history in single season saves with five other Salukis, most recently Trey McDaniels.
Dewey Robinson (1977) is seventh with 10 saves.
Pron was recently named to the Stopper of the Year Watchlist, honoring the top relief arms in the nation.

RUN WITH US

Southern Illinois is 65-76 on stolen base attempts this season, ranking second in the MVC.
Ten players have multiple stolen bases led by Mathieu Vallee who is 13-for-14. Jake Allgeyer is 11-for-11 on steals while Hesston Gray is 9-of-10.
SIU has recorded 65 or more stolen bases as a team in each of the last four seasons.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

The Salukis are second in the MVC and 53^rd nationally in double plays with 40 turned this season.
SIU has led the MVC in turning double plays in seven of the last 10 seasons. SIU led the MVC in double plays in 2013, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, and 2023. The Salukis were second in the MVC in 2016.

WALK IT OUT

The Salukis have shown patience at the plate, ranking tops in the MVC and 27^th nationally after drawing 274 walks.
SIU has nine players that have earned 10 or more walks led by Jake Allgeyer's 38 free passes.
It is the sixth time in program history that Southern Illinois has recorded at least 260 walks in a single season. The 260 free passes are the most in a single season since the Salukis tallied 289 in 2022 and it marks just the second time since 1986 that SIU has recorded 260-plus walks in a single year.

NOTEWORTHY

Lance Rhodes is 155-92 in five years at the helm of the SIU baseball program.
SIU is 22-1 when leading after eight, 21-2 when leading after seven, and 19-3 when leading after six innings.
SIU is 15-5 when scoring in the first inning and has outscored opponents 50-36 in the first.
Southern is 17-7 in games in which the team does not commit an error and 10-6 when committing one error. SIU is 2-10 when committing 2 or more miscues in the field.
The Salukis snapped a six-game losing streak to Top-25 teams after taking the series opener over the #25 Indiana State, 3-2. It was the first ranked win for SIU since 2019.

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on X at @SIU_Baseball, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiBaseball, and on Instagram at @SIU_Baseball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.

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