SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
• Arkansas State and SIU were scheduled twice during the 2018 campaign, however one of the matchups were cancelled due to inclemnt weather. On March 13, the most recent meeting, the Red Wolves defeated SIU 9-8 in the 11th inning on a Drew Tiptonn walkoff homerun.
• Nate Alberius turned in her fourth straight quality start of the year with another solid outing on the mound. The junior tossed 6.2 innings and had six strikeouts and four walks, while scattering three unearned runs on four hits. He gave up anunearned run in the first inning, but settled down and retired 11 batters in a row between the third and seventh innings.
• A-State trails the all-time series with Southern Illinois by a count of 26-48. The Red Wolves and Salukis met for the first time in 1948 with AState winning the first two games by scores of 3-2 and 8-6. Arkansas State won the first game in 1949by a score of 14-2 in Jonesboro before SIU got on the board with a 6-3 win in Carbondale later in the year.
• The two teams played every season from 1948 to 1957 with SIU leading the series by a count of 13-6, including a sweep of four games in the 1953 campaign. However, the Salukis dominated the series when it resumed in 1963 to the tune of a24-2 mark through 1978 with the two teams playing most years during that time frame. A-State won the first game in 19631-0 and won again in 1966 5-0, but Southern Illinois won 16 straight after that.
• The series picked up again in 1988 with A-State splitting four games with SIU. The teams played 17 games from 1988 through 1996 with the Red Wolves holding a slight 9-8 mark. The series resumed again in 2008 with A-State taking a loss. • Head coach Tommy Raffo took over in 2009 and currently has an 8-2 mark against Southern Illinois in his tenure. Raffolost the first meeting 10-3 in Carbondale, but A-State won 14-5 and 5-3 the following year to open up the season. A-Statewon 4-3 in 2011, but the two squads didn't play again until 2015 when the Red Wolves won 10-8 at SIU. A-State swept the two meetings in 2016, including a 1-0 walk-off win on a wild pitch at Tomlinson Stadium before the two teams split wins in 2017.
LAST TIMEOUT FOR SIU
• SIU fell 5-1 in the series opener against Bulter, the next two meetings were cancelled due to inclement weather. Butler (16-9) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. SIU (14-10) got a run back when Alex Lyon doubled in the third, and Addison Fugitt drove him home with a single. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 5-1 with a three-run third, but SIU starter Dylan Giv- ens battled through two scoreless innings after that to keep SIU within striking distance. Givens gave way to Corey Mitson,who pitched a scoreless sixth, and Justin Yeager used four strikeouts in five outs to keep Butler off the board through theeighth.
• Weber drew a one-out walk in the ninth inning and moved into scoring position with two outs, but Butler got a grounder to end the game and take the series opener.
• The Salukis were facing Butler ace Ryan Pepiot, a projected top-three round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. Pepiot livedup to the billing, sitting mid-90s with his fastball. He struck out the first four hitters he faced and ended up with 12 strikeoutson the game.
