SIU TRAVELS TO ARKANSAS STATE ON TUESDAY

By John Lock – siusalukis.com

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (8-8) at ARKANSAS STATE (7-5)

Southern Illinois travels to Arkansas State for a mid-week game on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

PITCHING PROBABLES

SIU LHP Brad Harrison (3-0, 1.23 ERA, 22.0 IP)
ASU RHP Nate Alberius (2-0, 1.77 ERA, 20.1 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

• Southern Illinois travels to Arkansas State for a 6 p.m. game against the Red Wolves.
• The Salukis lead the all-time series with Arkansas State, 48–25. The teams split last season; SIU won a pen game in Jonesboro last year, 4-2, and Arkansas State won an extra-inning game in Carbondale, 4-3, in 10 innings.
• Arkansas State was ranked No. 30 nationally last week in the NCBWA poll.
• SIU takes a five-game winning streak into the game, tied for the 11th longest active winning streak in the country. It’s the longest active streak in the MVC.
• Southern has also won three-straight road games, which is also tied for the 11th longest active road winning streak in the country and longest in the MVC.
• Starting pitcher Brad Harrison comes into the game with an active 18-inning scoreless streak. He has earned MVC Pitcher of the Week in each of the last two weeks.
o Feb. 27: pitched a complete-game 2-hit shutout at Belmont, striking out 11 and walking one. He retired the final 17 batters of the game.
o March 6: Eight innings, 1 hit, 13 strikeouts, 0 walks at SEMO. The ball only left the infield one time, a third inning fly out.
• SIU has a chance to extend its winning streak to six games.
o SIU’s last six-game winning streak was May 17-24, 2012 (final 3 regular season games and first 3 MVC Tournament games)
o SIU’s last six-game winning streak during the regular season came March 27-April 6, 2010.
o This is SIU’s fourth five-game winning streak in the last three years (2 in 2016; 1 in 2017).
• Alex Lyon is the reigning MVC Player of the Week. Lyon hit .625 with two doubles, a triple, four stolen bases at 10 RBIs last week.
• Three of the top four hitters in the MVC are Salukis. Lyon leads the league (.446), Connor Kopach is second (.433) and Logan Blackfan is third (.400). Lyon and Blackfan are also the co-leaders in the MVC in RBIs (21).
• Kopach ranks in the top-5 nationally in three different categories. Kopach leads the nation in stolen bases (13), and ranks fifth in both runs (23) and hits (29).
• SIU has already eclipsed last year’s mid-week win total. In 2017, SIU went 3-10 in mid-week games. This year, the Salukis are 4-0.
• The Salukis were picked fourth in the preseason MVC poll of head coaches. Starting pitcher Michael Baird, closer Ryan Netemeyer, and shortstop Connor Kopach were all named preseason All-MVC.
• SIU has led the MVC in double plays turned in four of the last five years.

MVC LEADERS

• Alex Lyon in batting average (.446)
• Lyon in slugging % (.714)
• Lyon and Logan Blackfan in RBIs (21)
• Connor Kopach in runs (23)
• Kopach in hits (29)
• Lyon and Kopach in doubles (7)
• Kopach in triples (2)
• Blackfan in home runs (5)
• Blackfan in total bases (43)
• Lyon in sacrifice flies (3)
• Kopach in stolen bases (13)
• Brad Harrison in ERA (1.23)
• Harrison in opposing batting average (.095)
• Harrison in wins (3)
• Harrison in fewest hits (7) and runs (3) allowed
• Team in triples (5)
• Team in walks drawn (77)
• Team in sac flies (13)
• Team in stolen bases (43)
• Team in opposing batting average (.240)