Kentucky Baseball Travels to Southern Illinois for Weekend Series

Following a 10-game home stand, the Bat ‘Cats will play outside of Lexington for the first time since February 17th. Kentucky Baseball travels to Carbondale, Illinois for a weekend series against the Salukis of Southern Illinois. For those of you wondering what a Saluki is, a Saluki is a Persian Greyhound. The more you know.

Their weekend series against Southern Illinois will be their final tune-up before SEC play begins on March 17th when Mississippi State makes their way to Lexington. The Wildcats are 11-2 and have won seven games in a row. They have already played twice this week, beating Murray State 6-2 and Ohio 9-2. Due to potential severe weather in the Carbondale area, Saturday and Sunday’s games have been moved to earlier in the day.

Kentucky and Southern Illinois have played on 15 different occasions, with Kentucky leading the series 10-5. This is the first time the Wildcats have traveled to Carbondale for a game since 1993, which Kentucky won 7-5.

Southern Illinois Impact Players

Southern Illinois enters this weekend at 6-7, fresh off a sweep of Ohio and a loss at SIUE. One important nugget about the Salukis is that they love to mash. Southern Illinois belted five home runs in their series against Ohio and finished with a .528 slugging %. The Salukis have broken their team record in home runs hit two years in a row, and it looks like it could be broken again this season.

Junior 2B Steven Loden leads the Salukis with five home runs hit this season. He is tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference in home runs hit. Loden also has five multi-hit games this season. He forms a solid middle infield duo with senior SS Kaeber Rog, who is batting .271 on the season with a 33-game on base streak dating back to last season. Rog also ranks 24th in the entire country in walks drawn (14). Junior OF Nathan Bandy leads Southern Illinois in batting average (.441), notching a hit in 15 of his 34 at-bats. He has knocked multiple hits in six of his nine games played this season.

The Southern Illinois pitching staff hasn’t been the strongest this season. They hold a combined 6.69 team ERA, which is eighth in the conference. The Salukis look set to start senior RHP Ben Chapman, junior RHP Easton Dermody, and redshirt sophomore RHP Paul Bonzagni in their three games against the Wildcats this weekend. Dermody has been their most impressive slinger, holding a 4.80 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched this season.

Kentucky Impact Players

Sure, their schedule hasn’t been the toughest, but the Wildcats sure have looked the part lately. Redshirt sophomore catcher Devin Burkes is coming off a three-double performance against Ohio on Wednesday. Burkes leads the entire nation with nine doubles hit. He is batting .288 and leads the team in RBI with 18. 2B Émilien Pitre has turned in to ‘ol reliable for Nick Mingione’s squad. Pitre is batting a blistering .444 with hits in 20 of his 45 at-bats this season. “Émilien’s a dog”, teammate Hunter Gilliam said of Pitre following their win over Murray State. “He isn’t going to cool down.”

The Wildcat pitching staff continues to be lock-down this season, as they enter this weekend’s series with a 2.87 team ERA. Starters grad student LHP Tyler Bosma and senior RHP Zack Lee will be starting for the ‘Cats this weekend. Lee in particular has looked like one of the best pitchers in the SEC so far this season. In 17 innings pitched, he has allowed just 10 hits and two earned runs, striking out a team-high 22 batters. He has been nearly unhittable. Kentucky will be getting their final reps before entering a brutal conference schedule, where they are currently scheduled to play seven ranked SEC teams and a ranked Louisville team twice.

Game 1: Friday, March 10th, 2023 (Itchy Jones Stadium – 4:00 PM)
UK: RHP Darren Williams (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP) vs SIU: RHP Ben Chapman (1-0, 6.00 ERA, 15.0 IP)
Game 2: Saturday, March 11th, 2023 (Itchy Jones Stadium – 1:00 PM)
UK: LHP Tyler Bosma (2-1, 4.61 ERA, 13.2 IP) vs SIU: RHP Easton Dermody (1-0, 4.80 ERA, 15.0 IP)
Game 3: Sunday, March 12th, 2023 (Itchy Jones Stadium – 2:00 PM)
UK: RHP Zack Lee (2-0, 1.06 ERA, 17.0 IP) vs SIU: RHP Paul Bonzagni (1-1, 6.46 ERA, 15.1 IP)