Dont be too harsh on me. I know this wont be as good as Comeback! But here we go.
The Cats (11-2) travel to Southern Illinois for a 3-game series. Friday will be played at 3, Saturday at noon due to potential weather and the finale Sunday at 1. SIU currently sets at 6-7. SIU swept Ohio last weekend but dropped a midweek game against SIU-Evansville on Tuesday 5-4. The two programs have met a total of 15 times with Kentucky leading the series 10-5. It marks the first time since 1993 that Kentucky has come to Carbondale for a game. The two squads met in a midweek contest in 1993 with UK winning 7-5. The next season was the last time that the teams played, with SIU defeating the Wildcats in Lexington, 15-14. The last time UK came to Carbondale for a weekend series was in 1980 when the Wildcats won two of three.
Probable Pitching Matchups:
Game 1 • RHP Ben Chapman (1-0, 6.00 ERA, 15.0 IP) vs RHP Darren Williams (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP)
Game 2 • RHP Easton Dermody (1-0, 4.80 ERA, 15.0 IP) vs LHP Tyler Bosma (2-1, 4.61 ERA, 13.2 IP)
Game 3 • RHP Paul Bonzagni (1-1, 6.46 ERA, 15.1 IP) vs RHP Zach Lee (2-0, 1.06 ERA, 17.0 IP)
(This is listed in the SIU preview. Unless someone smarter than me tells me otherwise, I cant imagine Logan Martin wouldnt start Friday night.)
SIU is led Lance Rhodes and is 96-42 in 3 seasons as the Salukis head coach. He is known as a tremendous offensive coach. He is also no stranger to SEC as he was the assistant coach at Mizzou before coming to SIU. Hes asissted by Brett Peel, Austin Tribby and Tyler Cook. If you havent noticed, there is a pattern here. Both Peel and Tribby came from Mizzou. Last seaso, SIU won its second MVC Conference title where they finished 44-16 but missed the NCAA. They lost in the championship game of the MVC Tournament. In 2021, they finished 40-20 but again missed the tournament after losing in the MVC tourney. They are picked to win the MVC this year by D1Baseball. (Admittedly this is where a lot of my info is coming from.)
The strength of this group under Rhodes has been offense. The Salukis offense has been dynamic under Rhodes’ leadership and they return five of the six batters that hit better than .300 a year ago: shortstop Kaeber Rog, third baseman Ryan Rodriguez and their entire outfield – Pier-Olivier Boucher, Jack Rigoni and Nathan Bandy. In 2022, they led the MVC in hits, runs, home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage. So far in 2023, Nathan Bandy leads the team in average (.441, 15 hits, 1 double and 2 homeruns). Steven Loden leads with 5 home runs and 16 RBIs. He actually hit a home run in first career at bat for the Salukis. SS Kaeber Rog is the preseason player of the year in the MVC. He was the Newcomer of the Year last year after hitting .362/14 home runs/21 doubles. The rest of the team has hit .284 with 131 hits/20 home runs/26 doubles and three triples while scoring 90 runs. They have struck out 94 times compared to just 49 walks.
Pitching for SIU has been a perplexing situation. They led the MVC in 2022 in ERA but as a team it was 4.89. Ben Chapman is their Friday guy. He is 1-0 with a 6.00 e.ra. Hes allowed 15 hits in 15.0 innings allowing 10 runs. Hes struck out 14 and walked 8. Opponents are hitting .263 against him. Easton Dermody will go Saturday. Hes 1-0 with a 4.80 e.ra. Hes allowed 17 hits allowing 8 runs, all earned. Hes struck out 12 against only 4 walks in 15 innings. Opponents are hitting .293. Paul Bonzagi is scheduled to start Sunday. He has 1-1 record with a 6.46 e.ra. Hes allowed 24 hits and 11 runs in 15.1 innings. Opponents are hitting an astonishing .369 against him. Side-arming closer Matthew Steidl was incredibly valuable to the staff last year, tossing 75 2/3 innings across 30 appearances with six saves and 91 punchouts. This year hes struggled going 0-3 with a 14.09 e.ra.
An interesting thing about SIU roster makeup is how they recruit JUCO talent and it’s a big part of what has allowed SIU to tally 40 or more wins each of the last two seasons. While there are plenty of newcomers to choose from, righthanders Paul Bonzagni and Easton Dermody stand out as they are projected to be the team’s Nos. 1 and 2 starters. Bonzagni brings sheer heat with a wicked slider but the command/control profile is still a work in progress while Dermody has a four-pitch mix headlined by his 90-94 mph fastball. On offense, DBU transfer Mathieu Vallee had a strong fall and projects to bat leadoff with a dangerous speed-based profile.
This is one of those teams that will should be good in their conference, but UK should feel confident going into this weekend. Its the last weekend before SEC play starts and thats when the real test begins. Pitching, UK absolutely has the advantage. The big thing to me is can they cut down on the runners left on base and cut down on the strikeouts. My take, UK wins 2 out of 3 and starts SEC play in a good spot. A long way from where I thought they would be at the beginning of the year.
I took a lot of this info from D1 baseball and from the Salukis website so I hope you enjoyed it.
The Cats (11-2) travel to Southern Illinois for a 3-game series. Friday will be played at 3, Saturday at noon due to potential weather and the finale Sunday at 1. SIU currently sets at 6-7. SIU swept Ohio last weekend but dropped a midweek game against SIU-Evansville on Tuesday 5-4. The two programs have met a total of 15 times with Kentucky leading the series 10-5. It marks the first time since 1993 that Kentucky has come to Carbondale for a game. The two squads met in a midweek contest in 1993 with UK winning 7-5. The next season was the last time that the teams played, with SIU defeating the Wildcats in Lexington, 15-14. The last time UK came to Carbondale for a weekend series was in 1980 when the Wildcats won two of three.
Probable Pitching Matchups:
Game 1 • RHP Ben Chapman (1-0, 6.00 ERA, 15.0 IP) vs RHP Darren Williams (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP)
Game 2 • RHP Easton Dermody (1-0, 4.80 ERA, 15.0 IP) vs LHP Tyler Bosma (2-1, 4.61 ERA, 13.2 IP)
Game 3 • RHP Paul Bonzagni (1-1, 6.46 ERA, 15.1 IP) vs RHP Zach Lee (2-0, 1.06 ERA, 17.0 IP)
(This is listed in the SIU preview. Unless someone smarter than me tells me otherwise, I cant imagine Logan Martin wouldnt start Friday night.)
SIU is led Lance Rhodes and is 96-42 in 3 seasons as the Salukis head coach. He is known as a tremendous offensive coach. He is also no stranger to SEC as he was the assistant coach at Mizzou before coming to SIU. Hes asissted by Brett Peel, Austin Tribby and Tyler Cook. If you havent noticed, there is a pattern here. Both Peel and Tribby came from Mizzou. Last seaso, SIU won its second MVC Conference title where they finished 44-16 but missed the NCAA. They lost in the championship game of the MVC Tournament. In 2021, they finished 40-20 but again missed the tournament after losing in the MVC tourney. They are picked to win the MVC this year by D1Baseball. (Admittedly this is where a lot of my info is coming from.)
The strength of this group under Rhodes has been offense. The Salukis offense has been dynamic under Rhodes’ leadership and they return five of the six batters that hit better than .300 a year ago: shortstop Kaeber Rog, third baseman Ryan Rodriguez and their entire outfield – Pier-Olivier Boucher, Jack Rigoni and Nathan Bandy. In 2022, they led the MVC in hits, runs, home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage. So far in 2023, Nathan Bandy leads the team in average (.441, 15 hits, 1 double and 2 homeruns). Steven Loden leads with 5 home runs and 16 RBIs. He actually hit a home run in first career at bat for the Salukis. SS Kaeber Rog is the preseason player of the year in the MVC. He was the Newcomer of the Year last year after hitting .362/14 home runs/21 doubles. The rest of the team has hit .284 with 131 hits/20 home runs/26 doubles and three triples while scoring 90 runs. They have struck out 94 times compared to just 49 walks.
Pitching for SIU has been a perplexing situation. They led the MVC in 2022 in ERA but as a team it was 4.89. Ben Chapman is their Friday guy. He is 1-0 with a 6.00 e.ra. Hes allowed 15 hits in 15.0 innings allowing 10 runs. Hes struck out 14 and walked 8. Opponents are hitting .263 against him. Easton Dermody will go Saturday. Hes 1-0 with a 4.80 e.ra. Hes allowed 17 hits allowing 8 runs, all earned. Hes struck out 12 against only 4 walks in 15 innings. Opponents are hitting .293. Paul Bonzagi is scheduled to start Sunday. He has 1-1 record with a 6.46 e.ra. Hes allowed 24 hits and 11 runs in 15.1 innings. Opponents are hitting an astonishing .369 against him. Side-arming closer Matthew Steidl was incredibly valuable to the staff last year, tossing 75 2/3 innings across 30 appearances with six saves and 91 punchouts. This year hes struggled going 0-3 with a 14.09 e.ra.
An interesting thing about SIU roster makeup is how they recruit JUCO talent and it’s a big part of what has allowed SIU to tally 40 or more wins each of the last two seasons. While there are plenty of newcomers to choose from, righthanders Paul Bonzagni and Easton Dermody stand out as they are projected to be the team’s Nos. 1 and 2 starters. Bonzagni brings sheer heat with a wicked slider but the command/control profile is still a work in progress while Dermody has a four-pitch mix headlined by his 90-94 mph fastball. On offense, DBU transfer Mathieu Vallee had a strong fall and projects to bat leadoff with a dangerous speed-based profile.
This is one of those teams that will should be good in their conference, but UK should feel confident going into this weekend. Its the last weekend before SEC play starts and thats when the real test begins. Pitching, UK absolutely has the advantage. The big thing to me is can they cut down on the runners left on base and cut down on the strikeouts. My take, UK wins 2 out of 3 and starts SEC play in a good spot. A long way from where I thought they would be at the beginning of the year.
I took a lot of this info from D1 baseball and from the Salukis website so I hope you enjoyed it.
