SIUE (6-12) at Illinois State (6-11)
Tue., March 18, 5 p.m.
Duffy Bass Field
Normal, Illinois
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
SIUE RHP Brady Coon (0-1, 10.57) vs. ISU LHP Ryan Weaver (0-3, 10.12)
LAST WEEK: SIUE split a four-game week, winning a home contest with Evansville, before winning one in a weekend series at Missouri State.
SERIES STUFF: ISU owns a 22-9 lead in the all-time series. There also has been one tie in the series. The Cougars are just 3-11 when playing in Normal. Illinois State won the only meeting last year, 14-3 in Normal.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chase Bloomer won his first career OVC Player of the Week award Monday after hitting .444 (8-18) for the week. He hit four home runs and drove in nine. He had a three-home run day last Wednesday against Evansville.
COMEBACK COUGS: Evansville built a 10-0 lead in the game before SIUE stormed back to win 12-11. Daniel Gierer walked it off with a base hit to cap a four-run ninth inning.
LEADERS AT THE PLATE: Bloomer is tied for 11th in the OVC in batting average at .353. He is third with five home runs and eighth in OPS at 1.051. Daniel Gierer is fourth in the OVC with eight stolen bases.
LEADERS ON THE MOUND: Liam McKillop and Tim Teixeira are tied for eighth in the league with 24 strikeouts. Teixeira leads the Cougars with 21 innings. McKillop leads the way with eight appearances.
GOOD HANDS: SIUE is now second in the league with a .971 fielding percentage. The Cougars have committed the fewest errors in the league with 17.
RETURN TO ME: The Cougars return 11 position players from 2024. Those 11 players accounted for 36 home runs (72 percent) and 212 RBIs (68 percent) in 2024. SIUE also returns nine pitchers, which accounting for 31 starts (55 percent), 12 wins (57 percent), 273 innings (58 percent) and 241 strikeouts (58 percent) in 2024.
THE SKIPPER: Sean Lyons is in his ninth season as SIUE's head coach. His overall record is 168-234.
LAST YEAR: SIUE was 21-31-1 overall and 12-11-1 at home. The Cougars returned to the OVC Tournament for the third consecutive season under Sean Lyons, a first in school history. The Cougars finished seventh in OVC play at 12-15.
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