SOUTHERN ILLINOIS @ DALLAS BAPTIST     
May 15-17 | Dallas, Baptist | Horner Ballpark   
                                                        
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
DBU Audio: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Livestats: DBU Livestats
Facebook: DBU Athletics
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Dates: May 15-17
Time: 6:30 PM (Thurs.) 6:30 PM (Fri.) 2 PM (Sun.)                                           
Stadium: Horner Ballpark (2,000)                                       
Broadcast: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Talent: Reagan Ratcliff, Brendan Smith, and Nate Frieling
 
PROBABLE STARTERS

Thursday, May 15
SIU – RHP Sam Coonrod (1-5, 3.11 ERA, 72.1 IP, 37 BB, 69 K)
vs.
DBU – RHP Cy Sneed (7-3, 4.28 ERA, 82 IP, 31 BB, 68 K)
 
Friday, May 16
SIU – RHP Todd Eaton (3-2, 3.46 ERA, 83.1 IP, 22 BB, 41 K)
vs.
DBU – RHP Paul Voelker (8-4, 3.20 ERA, 31 BB, 75 K)
 
Saturday, May 17
SIU - TBA
vs.
DBU – RHP Cory Taylor (3-4, 3.68 ERA, 40 BB, 78 K)
 

FIRST PITCH – The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team enters the final week of the regular season with three games remaining. All the contests will be at Horner Ballpark, a place the Patriots have enjoyed going 17-8 on the campaign. The last pair of home series, DBU has managed to split 2-2.
 
Coming off a big series win at Wichita State, the Patriots remain three games behind Missouri Valley Conference leader, Evansville. DBU (33-18, 11-7) separated itself from a three-way tie going into the weekend with Wichita State and Indiana State.
 
After all the clubs completed three-game sets, the Patriots remain alone in third, while Indiana State (33-13, 12-6) got lifted a game in front to second place following a sweep at Missouri State. Illinois State (30-18, 10-8), who ranked second in the conference standings on Friday, were swept by Evansville (33-17, 14-4) and dropped to fourth with Wichita State.

Evansville will travel to Missouri State (21-28, 7-11) for three games to wrap-up its campaign. Indiana State is on the road at Bradley University (22-23), and Illinois State hosts Wichita State (26-26, 10-8). All contests are part of three-game series on May 15-17.

RECENT ACTION – Beginning a three-game series in a tie for third place with the opposition on the road, the Patriot Baseball Team claimed two from the trio of contests, to secure third place and win their fourth conference series of the year. After falling in the opener, 8-5, DBU snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday, and won back-to-back games to finish off a huge weekend.
 
Needing a victory in the rubber match Sunday, the Patriots outhit WSU 12-10 and utilized timely hitting to build a large enough advantage to give the bullpen a solid cushion. Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, DBU mounted a two-out rally with consecutive singles from senior, Mike Wesolowski, and sophomore, Daniel Salters.
 
Sophomore, Austin Listi, brought both runners in with a double to give the Patriots a lead it would never relinquish. Freshman, David Martinelli, continued the hit parade with the visiting squad's fourth-straight base knock in the frame on an RBI double.
 
In the fifth and sixth, Dallas Baptist combined to double its lead with a two runs and a run in respective innings. Salters tripled for the seventh time this season, driving in Wesolowski, who batted a perfect 1.000 on the day, going 4-for-4 with an RBI. Salters scored a batter later on a Listi single.
 
The Shockers countered the 6-2 deficit, getting a two-run homer, from Chase Simpson off sophomore, Joseph Shaw, to cut the amount by a pair. Getting his first action of the series, classmate, Brandon Koch, increased his impressive scoreless streak of nine-straight appearances, working the final 2.2 innings to pick up his team-high, eighth save. The Plano, Texas, native allowed a hit and walk, while fanning five total WSU hitters.
 
Using a 13-hit barrage, the Patriots spread out their scoring, crossing the plate in six of nine innings in an 8-2 decision.  Five errors plagued the Shockers, as four of their hurlers allowed only three earned runs. In the second inning, the Patriots were able to jump on the scoreboard with two runs, both counting as unearned.
 
After extending the lead 3-0 in the fourth, WSU etched a run in the bottom half, but DBU scored in the sixth, seventh, and eight frames. This included a pair of runs being tallied in the sixth and eighth to conclude the eight-run scoring affair.
 
Juniors, Drew Turbin, and Nash Knight, had excellent days at the dish. Turbin belted his third homer of the year and was one of five players to record a multi-hit game. Knight also had a pair of base hits, and a game-high, four RBI, which matched a season-best.
 
In the opener, DBU fell behind early allowing a four-run second inning from junior, Cy Sneed, to get in an early hole they couldn't climb out of. The Patriots began nipping away with a run in the third and fourth to narrow the margin 4-2.
 
A trio of runs in the fourth extended the advantage for WSU, and despite posting three runs combined in the eighth and ninth, it was too much for the Patriots to overcome. The setback pushed DBU to fourth place for a game, but momentum in the rest of the series favored the road club, that now completes its campaign at home with sole possession of third.
                                                                     
TEAM/PLAYER NOTES – As a team, the Patriots have gotten the long ball to work for them, powering 34 homeruns for the second highest total in the MVC entering the weekend.
 
Wesolowski, leads the club with 65 hits in 206 at-bats for a .316 batting average. He's the lone Patriot above the .300 hitting clip, and had an enormous series at Wichita State. Over the series, the native of Mesa, Arizona, swung the hot bat, pounding .600 (9-for-15), including a perfect 4-for-4 afternoon on Sunday.  
 
For the week, the Patriots' first baseman compiled a team-best .778 slugging percentage with one homer and two RBI. Wesolowski also led the club with a .600 on-basepercentage, 14 total bases, and scored five runs.
 
He ranks second on the club with 45 runs scored, and is third with 30 RBI. In the last ten games, Wesolowski has hit safely in eight of them, including five counting as multi-hit affairs. Active hitting streak is four, with the latest three being three, two, and four-hit games, respectively.    
 
Listi has duplicated the numbers that he posted last year as a Freshman All-American.  In 2013, the outfielder hit .285 with nine homeruns and 46 RBI.  This year, Listi has compiled exactly the same average and homeruns and needs just six more RBI to duplicate last year's total.
 
The native of Huffman, Texas, ties with Turbin for second on the squad with a .285 batting average, and is the leader with 47 runs scored. He also maintains the club-lead for long balls and RBI with 40.
 
Salters knocked his league-leading seventh triple in the Sunday finale at Wichita State. The native of Eufala, Oklahoma, is one shy from moving into a tie for the second most triples in program history since DBU became a NCAA Division I program in 2004.
 
Over the series, Salters only tallied two hits in Sunday's game, but did pick up an RBI and scored twice. He is second on the team with 39 runs driven in, and is the third individual to eclipse the 40 mark for runs scored.
 
Koch boasts some of the most impressive numbers out of the bullpen in the entire nation.  Koch's 16.2 strikeouts-per-nine-innings ranks second best in the nation among relievers with at least 35 strikeouts on the season, and his 0.53 ERA is fifth best in the country among relievers with at least 15 appearances and 25 innings pitched.
 
The Dallas Baptist pitching staff has stuck out 440 batters through 51 games this season, for an average of 8.6 strikeouts-per-nine innings.  Entering this weekend, the Patriots' pitching staff ranked seventh nationally in strkeouts-per-nine innings.  DBU is just two strikeouts away from eclipsing the team's best strikeout total since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 2004, set by last year's staff with 442.
 
Leading the rotation is junior, Paul Voelker, who has a club-high eight wins. He picked it up last Saturday at Wichita State, tossing 5.2 innings of two-run, six-hit ball; while walking four and striking out five.
 
Behind him in victories with seven is junior, Cy Sneed. The native of Twin Falls, Idaho, flipped spots in the rotation with Voelker after going at least six innings in nine of his first ten starts. The right-hander is 4-2 at Horner ballpark and will try and bounce back from his shortest outing last weekend. He hurled 3.2 innings, giving up seven runs off six hits.
 
Sophomore, Cory Taylor, will pitch the finale and leads the squad with 78 punch outs. He also has allowed four earned runs or less in 14 appearances (12 starts), including three or less in the last four trips to the bump.

SCOUTING THE SALUKIS – Southern Illinois (25-26, 4-14) swept their series at home last weekend versus Mississippi Valley State.  It's the Salukis' third, three game win streak this year, and is the most game they have won in a row this year.  Southern Illinois is 4-6 in their last 10 games, with their only other win coming against the Missouri Valley Conference's first place team, Evansville, in an 8-2 win on May 3. 
Southern Illinois has played in 23 one-run games this year, which is more than any program in the nation.  They are 10-13 in one-run games this year.  They have also played in more extra-inning games than any team in the nation (12).  The Salukis are 3-9 in extra-inning affairs.
 
Southern Illinois enters this week with the third best ERA in the Missouri Valley Conference at 3.48 and their staff owns the lowest opposing batting average in the league at .235.  Sam Coonrod's 3.11 ERA leads the staff and is 14^th best in the conference and his 69 strikeouts are tied for 9^th in the MVC.  The Salukis' closer, Tyler Dray, has saved seven games on the season, which is 4^th best in the league.
 
Offensively, Southern Illinois is hiting .260 as a team and they are averaging four runs per game.  Cody Daily leads the club with a .332 average, which is sixth best in the conference.  Ryan Casillas is tops on the team with 37 RBI's and ranks fourth in the MVC with 16 doubles.  Daily and Casillas are each tied for the team lead in homeruns with five apiece. 
 
Defensively, the Salukis rank in the middle of the conference in fielding percentage at .968 and they have allowed more stolen bases (62) than any team in the MVC.

SERIES HISTORY – DBU leads the all-time series versus the Salukis, 4-2, with the last meeting occurring in 2012, when they swept the three-game set. The Patriots broke double-digits in the trio of affairs: 11-8, 12-8, and 11-6.  This MVC series match-up marks SIU's first visit in history at Horner Ballpark since it opened in 2013.
 
HEEFNER CLOSING IN ON 250 – Dallas Baptist head coach, Dan Heefner, is approaching 250 career wins.  The 36-year old Heefner, who is in his seventh season as the Patriots' head coach, owns a career-record of 249-150 for a .624 winning percentage.
 
Heefner entered the 2014 season with a .621 win percentage, ranking him as the 34^th winningest active coach in NCAA Division I Baseball.  Heefner will coach in his 400^th career game in Thursday night's series opener.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE – Dallas Baptist concludes its regular season, and action at Horner Ballpark this weekend, as the club will shift its focus to the Missouri Conference Tournament in Terre Haute, Indiana, May 20-24.