SIU baseball at No. 21 Tennessee Tech for weekend series

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (20-17) at TENNESSEE TECH (31-5) // April 20-22, 2018 // Cookeville, Tenn. (Weather) // Bush Stadium (1,100 // Grass) // SIU Game Notes PDF

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The Southern Illinois baseball team travels to No. 21 Tennessee Tech for a three-game series this weekend. All three games will be video streamed through the OVC Digital Network. Friday night’s series opener is set to begin at 6 p.m. CT.

Game 1 – Friday, April 20 // 6 p.m. // Watch | Listen | Stats

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SIU RHP Michael Baird (3-2, 3.52 ERA, 61.1 IP)
TTU TBA

Game 2 – Saturday, April 21 // 2 p.m. // Watch | Listen | Stats

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SIU LHP Jamison Steege (4-2, 4.45 ERA, 54.2 IP)
TTU TBA

Game 3 – Sunday, April 22 // 1 p.m. // Watch | Listen | Stats

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SIU LHP Brad Harrison (4-2, 2.83 ERA, 54.0 IP)
TTU TBA

AROUND THE HORN

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• Southern Illinois heads to Cookeville, Tenn., for a three-game series at No. 21 Tennessee Tech.
• Tennessee Tech comes into the series with the nation’s longest active winning streak at 22 games. The 22-game winning streak is tied for an Ohio Valley Conference record.
• The Golden Eagles lead the nation in batting average, hits, doubles, home runs, on-base percentage, runs, and slugging percentage.
• The series will be Southern’s third weekend series against a ranked opponent this season, joining the Illinois and Dallas Baptist series.
• Since March 5, Southern Illinois is 16-4 against unranked opponents.
• Logan Blackfan enters the weekend with an active 17-game hitting streak, the longest for an SIU player since Chris Serritella had a 24-game hitting streak in 2012.
• With five RBIs on Wednesday vs. Murray State, Blackfan now has 140 career RBIs, passing P.J. Finigan (2002-05) and Dan Radison (1969-72) on SIU’s all-time RBI list.
• In the last six games, SIU is 13-for-13 stealing bases. In the last 11 games, SIU is 23-for-24 stealing bases.
• Nikola Vasic had a 27-game reached base streak snapped against Valpo, but he has reached in 34 of the last 35 games.
• SIU ranks fourth nationally in stolen bases with 91.
• SIU’s weekend starting rotation has a 3.83 ERA in 160 innings pitched. Brad Harrison and Michael Baird rank second and third in the MVC, respectively, in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
• Baird allowed only one earned run in six innings last week against No. 25 Dallas Baptist–Baird’s 25th quality start (6+ IP & 3 or fewer ER) in his last 37 starts.
• Among active players, Connor Kopach ranks second nationally in career stolen bases (72), and Logan Blackfan ranks second in career doubles (65).

MVC LEADERS

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• Logan Blackfan in RBIs (45)
• Blackfan in total bases (87)
• Connor Kopach in triples (4)
• Kopach in stolen bases (21)
• Nikola Vasic in sac flies (5)
• Michael Baird in innings pitched (61.1)
• Trey McDaniel in appearances (19)
• Team in hits (356)
• Team in triples (9)
• Team in sac flies (24)
• Team in stolen bases (91)
• Team in fewest hit batters (19)
• Team in turning double plays (32)

RUN WITH US

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• SIU has stolen 91 bases through 37 games, which ranks fourth nationally.
• Since the start of the 2017 season, SIU has 191 stolen bases. Missouri State is second in the MVC during that span with 100.
• In the last 27 games, SIU is 70-for-81 stealing bases (86.4 percent).
• Connor Kopach ranks 11th in the nation with 21 stolen bases.
• Alex Lyon tied an SIU single-game record with four stolen bases against Austin Peay. Kopach also holds that record, having stolen four bases against Tennessee Tech last year.
• Four of the top six base stealers in the MVC are Salukis: Kopach (21) is first, Alex Lyon(19) is second, and Addison Fugitt and Nikola Vasic (14) are tied for fourth.
• Last year, SIU stole 100 bases, which led the MVC by 42 and ranked 14th nationally. This year, SIU is on pace (2.5 stolen bases per game) for about 145 stolen bases.
• The school record for stolen bases is 139 by the 1971 College World Series runners-up, coached by Itchy Jones.