@mr_woogers I miss "The Sporting News". Used to be the baseball bible. Now I read "out-batted" (outhit) and scored more points (In the Egyptian.) Sports writing used to be a training ground for great writers: Frank Deford, Dan Jenkins, Roger Kahn, Red Smith, Bob Considine, Tom Wolfe, Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner, and Jim Murray.
Yeh The Sporting News was a great rag for sports fans. Very comprehensive and excellent sports writing. Long gone I'm afraid. I think they still have a website.
The printed word is slowly disappearing.
NU 10 SIU 4 Our pitching is very suspect. NU hit 3 HRs in a row in the 1st inning and two more late in the game.
just a brain-numbing sample from SIUSALUKIS.COM:
Salukis Drop to Wildcats (Drop??)
.....As right-hander Reed Smith came in relief for Wildcats' starter Sean Sullivan on the mound, shortstop Kaeber Rog swung deep into right field off the first pitch, anchoring his sixth homer of his Saluki career and shortened the gap by four runs.
Rallying up the end of the game, Northwestern sought an RBI single and advanced running to tally up three more runs within the eighth and ninth innings to widen the margin, as the Salukis' last scoring opportunity was off the bat of outfielder Nathan Bandy, who pulled in an RBI-single up the middle in the eighth....
Don't know how much baseball RPI matters, especially this early in the season but not great to see SIU dead last in the MVC
Don't know who's calculating that, but it's bonkers. Gives us a SOS of 276 and Valpo a SOS of 149. Their sched. isn't close to as tough as ours.
Southern blows it in the 9th on a mix-up between pitcher and catcher and some suspect rounding by CF on a flyball. Really rough way to go if they lose, but honestly too many opps they didn’t cash in on. Bases loaded called strike in the 7th was a killer
Bow Em
And an AMAZING rob of a HR in the 9th. Wow. Would’ve tied the game for SIU
Bow Em
Wow! What a comeback win!!! Poor Bradley defense wins it!!!
Bow Em
Shocked to SIU dead last in the RPI rankings. The "experts" really must think our strength of schedule is garbage.
Maybe we need to go back to the days of opening the season at University of Miami in Coral Gables each year. Tough, tough, games for SIU, but at least it gave the program a measuring stick right out of the gate.
@1dawg can't remember when baseball or softball had a true spring break week of games in the deep south against high end competition
SIU’s non-conf is crap. It’s not an opinion. It’s a terrible schedule.
SIU looks like it’s gonna lose the final game of this set. 7th inning may have been the worst inning the played all year. Two hit batsmen to lead the inning. A bunt single. A misplayed high chopper. Then, a Baltimore chop over the third baseman’s head. Real nightmare. 7-2 Bradley in the 7th and only one out. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. SIU needs a miracle rally to win. Bats have been ‘okay’ all weekend. Just one of those stretches in a long weekend. Series win is a series win, though.
They will need to play better to beat Evansville. Aces are playing good ball over the last three weeks.
Bow Em
Rhodes has shown he can recruit some talent in the field and at the plate, but he really needs to pick it up with pitching. They have really struggled this year, and this Bradley game is a great example.
If I am not mistaken Rhodes has said he thinks he needs all the non conference wins he can get and with that if the Dawgs can get to 40 to 45 wins with the depth of the valley and good finish in the standings and solid finish in the valley tournament could get an at large bid because strength of schedule should improve during conference season
That sounds like very Hinson-ish logic when it comes to scheduling.
Rhodes has done a nice job so far - far better than the previous two coaches.
Fact is, if we hadn't blown that 5 run lead against Ind. St in the MVC tournament last year, we would have gone to the NCAAs, either as the autobid (we had split the season with DBU) or as an at-large.
Needs to upgrade the pitching. We can hit and field, but our relief kills us - today against the Goyles, twice against Northwestern, against Illinois, etc.
Rhodes is doing an excellent job given where the program was. This feels like a bit of a reset year after last year's success with COVID year Seniors.
