Carbondale Reporter

Southern Illinois University's baseball team is set to face Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in their final midweek road game of the season on May 7. The match will be held in Edwardsville, Illinois, with the first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.

Fans can watch the game on ESPN+, follow live stats, or get updates via Twitter @SIU_Baseball. The probable starting pitchers are Tyler Timmerman for Southern Illinois and Gabriel Nutter for SIUE.

Southern Illinois comes into the game with a record of 32-15 overall and 13-8 in Missouri Valley Conference play. They recently won two out of three games against Murray State. Notably, Southern has a strong track record when scoring seven or more runs, boasting a 25-5 record under such conditions.

SIUE stands at 23-22 overall and holds a 15-6 record in Ohio Valley Conference play after winning two of three games against Western Illinois last weekend. Their batting average as a team is .266, led by Daniel Gierer with an average of .329. Mack Mitchell leads both the team and the OVC with 17 home runs.

The Salukis have historically dominated this matchup, leading the all-time series against SIUE 32-9 and winning three straight games, including twelve of the last thirteen encounters.

In terms of standings within their conference, Southern sits third in the MVC. Offensively, they rank first in runs scored within their conference and second in slugging percentage. Their pitching staff holds a combined ERA of 5.18, which is also second-best in their conference.

Individually, several players have been performing well this season: Tim Simay leads with a .338 batting average; Jordan Bach has hit nineteen doubles; Matt Schark has sixty-three hits and fifty-nine RBIs; Alec Nigut maintains an ERA of 4.01; Sam Frizzi excels as a reliever with six saves.

The team's head coach Lance Rhodes is now in his sixth season and has led them to two back-to-back seasons with over forty wins—a first in program history.

For more information about Southern Illinois baseball updates, fans can follow them on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram or download their mobile app available on both App Store and Google Play Store.