Southern Illinois University announced on Apr. 16 that its men’s baseball team has moved up the start times for Friday and Saturday games against Bradley University, with the series set to begin in Peoria.
The change comes as both teams prepare for a key Missouri Valley Conference matchup. Southern Illinois aims to build momentum after winning one of three games at Evansville last weekend and losing a midweek contest to Arkansas State. The Salukis will face Bradley with Andrew Evans (5-1, 1.80 ERA) and Troy Shepard (1-3, 4.37 ERA) expected as starting pitchers.
Kyle Mager contributed four hits, including three doubles and two RBIs during the previous series, while Tim Simay delivered the team’s first four-hit game of the season with a home run and seven RBIs. Pitcher Andrew Evans struck out a career-high 14 batters in his last Friday appearance, marking the most strikeouts by a Saluki pitcher since March 2018.
The Southern Illinois roster includes experienced players such as Michael Mylott and Gabe Petrucelli—key contributors to last season’s school-record 113 home runs—as well as returning pitchers Meade Johnson and Dylan Petrey. Head coach Lance Rhodes is now in his seventh season with a record of 209-138 at SIU, having led the program to consecutive seasons with over forty wins for the first time.
SIU was picked second in this year’s Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, behind Murray State. Six Salukis were named MVC Players to Watch: Tim Simay, Dylan Petrey, Kaleb Hall, Meade Johnson, Cecil Lofton, and Gabe Petrucelli. The team brings back much of its offensive production from last year when it ranked among national leaders in runs scored (500), home runs (113), slugging percentage (.555), doubles (124), triples (17), sacrifice flies (33), stolen bases (81), shutouts (5), and saves (12).
Bradley leads the conference in stolen bases this season but has struggled on pitching with a team earned run average over ten. The Braves’ Landon Lowe is hitting .372 while Hayden Miller leads them with nine home runs; Miller is tied atop conference stolen base rankings alongside SIU’s Julio Guerrero.
The Southern Illinois baseball program has appeared five times at the College World Series according to its official website, recording fourteen NCAA Tournament appearances overall according to its official website. Legendary coach Richard ‘Itchy’ Jones led SIU to ten NCAA tournaments and three College World Series berths according to its official website. His uniform number was retired by the program according to its official website.
Games are hosted at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale which features artificial turf and a modern video board according to its official website. The current roster includes approximately thirty-nine student-athletes according to its official website.
The Southern Illinois Salukis continue their efforts toward community engagement through athletics participation within NCAA Division I competition as part of their ongoing role at Southern Illinois University according to its official website.
