SIUE Cougars (10-8, 0-0 OVC) at
Southeast Missouri Redhawks (14-5, 0-0 OVC)
March 25-27
Capaha Park
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Probable Pitching Matchups
Game 1 - SIUE RHP Brant Glidewell (2-0, 5.54) vs. SEMO RHP Jason Rackers (2-0, 5.40)
Game 2 - SIUE RHP Collin Baumgartner (2-1, 5.79) vs. SEMO LHP Nathan Niznik (1-0, 7.08)
Game 3 - SIUE TBA vs. SEMO TBA
LAST TIME: The Cougars are were scheduled to play Wednesday against Evansville, but were rained out.
LAST WEEKEND: The Cougars dropped a weekend series at Memphis, losing the last two games in the series. Sunday's loss was the first Sunday loss of the year for the Cougars.
HOMER HAPPY: With 38 home runs, SIUE is one behind the Redhakws in the Ohio Valley Conference and No. 9 in the NCAA in total homers. They are third in home runs per game at 2.11. Individually, Brett Johnson's nine home runs lead the OVC and rank him 10th in the country. Josh Ohl, Avery Owusu-Asiedu and Richie Well each have six to tie for fourth in the league and 73rd in the NCAA.
HITTING THEIR STRIDE: As a team, SIUE is seventh in the league with a .272 batting average. Ohl is fourth in the league at .400, which is 75th in the NCAA. SIUE is second the league in slugging percentage at .530, which is No. 18 nationally. Johnson (.862) and Ohl (.786) are top two in the league and 12th and 31st in the NCAA.
HURLERS: SIUE pitchers open the weekend eighth in the OVC in earned run average at 7.31. Taylor Bruninga is 10th in the OVC at 4.58. His opponent's battig average of .233 is seventh in the league.
STRIKE FORCE: SIUE pitchers are averaging 8.50 strikeouts per nine innings, which is fourth best in the OVC. Brant Glidewell is seventh in thee OVC at 7.62.
CENTURY MARK: Head Coach Sean Lyons is two wins away from No. 100 for his career.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS: The Cougars return five position players: Brady Bunten, Johnson, Ole Arntson, Owusu- Asiedu and Connor Kiffer that made at least 40 starts last year. Well made 38 starts and Ohl made 25. The Cougars boast three pitchers who made at least nine starts last year in Brant Glidewell (9), Noah Matheny (11) and Jake Bockenstedt (9). Collin Baumgartner returns after missing 2021 due to injury. Baumgartner made four Friday starts in the pandemic-shortened 2020 and led the OVC with 15 starts in 2019, his last full season.
LAST SEASON: The Cougars finished last season at 23-27 overall, which matched the most wins under Sean Lyons (2017). SIUE was 13-17 in Ohio Valley Conference play, marking the most OVC wins since 2015.
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: The OVC's head coaches and sports information personnel chose SIUE for a sixth-place finish. D1Baseball.com picked SIUE for a third-place finish.
ALL-OVC: Bunten and Johnson were each named to the Preseason All-OVC team.
SERIES STUFF: SEMO holds a 32-27 edge in the all-time series. The Redhawks are 20-9 all-time at home in the series. SEMO holds a 19-8 since SIUE joined the OVC.
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