Southern Illinois Salukis baseball

The Southern Illinois Salukis baseball team represents Southern Illinois University in NCAA Division I college baseball. They are part of the Missouri Valley Conference. Twenty-four Saluki Baseball alumni have gone on to the Major Leagues.

Southern Illinois Salukis
2025 Southern Illinois Salukis baseball team
Founded	1947; 78 years ago (1947)
University	Southern Illinois University
Head coach	Lance Rhodes (6th season)
Conference	MVC
Location	Carbondale, IL
Home stadium	Itchy Jones Stadium (Capacity: 2,000)
Nickname	Salukis
Colors	Maroon and white[1]
College World Series runner-up
1968, 1971
College World Series appearances
1968, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1977
NCAA regional champions
1977
NCAA tournament appearances
1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1986, 1990
Conference tournament champions
1977, 1978, 1981, 1990
Conference regular season champions
1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1990, 2022

History

On June 20, 2019, Southern Illinois University Director of Athletics Jerry Kill announced Lance Rhodes as the program's new head coach. Rhodes is a Sikeston, Missouri, native, and joined the Saluki baseball program from the University of Missouri, where he had served as the head assistant and recruiting coordinator. Prior to his time at the University of Missouri, Rhodes served as the recruiting coordinator at Southeast Missouri State University; helping them to three years of program dominance by winning three straight Ohio Valley Conference championships (2014, 2015, 2016).^{[citation needed]}

SIU baseball started as a club sport in 1921, lasting until 1924. From 1925 until 1946, the school did not have a baseball program.

In 1947, Abe Martin revived the program as an intercollegiate sport and it has remained ever since, being an elite program in the late 1960s through the 1980s.

SIU plays its home games at Itchy Jones Stadium.^[2]

SIU in the NCAA tournament

SIU has a proud history in the NCAA baseball tournament, held in Omaha since 1950 and at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium from 1950 through 2010. They have made the College World Series 5 times and finished as the national champion runner-up twice (losing out to the University of Southern California Trojans both times) and as third-place finishers twice.

Year	Record	Pct	Notes
1966	0–2	.000	Eliminated by Valparaiso
1967	1–2	.333	Eliminated by Western Michigan
1968	6–2	.750	Eliminated by USC in championship game College World Series (2nd place)
1969	3–2	.600	Eliminated by Ole Miss College World Series (7th place)
1970	2–2	.500	Eliminated by Ohio
1971	7–3	.700	Eliminated by USC in championship game College World Series (2nd place)
1973	2–2	.500	Eliminated by Minnesota
1974	7–3	.500	Eliminated by USC in CWS semifinals College World Series (3rd place)
1976	0–2	.000	Eliminated by Michigan
1977	6–2	.750	Eliminated by Arizona State in CWS Semifinals College World Series (3rd place)
1978	2–2	.500	Eliminated by Oral Roberts
1981	1–2	.333	Eliminated by Oral Roberts
1986	1–2	.333	Eliminated by Texas
1990	2–2	.500	Eliminated by San Diego State
TOTALS	40–30	.571

^[3]

Head coaches

Coach	Years	Record
Lance Rhodes	2020–present	166–93
Ken Henderson	2011–2019	241–294–1
Dan Callahan	1995–2010	442–447–1
Sam Riggelman	1991–1994	82–114–1
Itch Jones	1970–1990	738–345–5
Joe Lutz	1966–1969	130–48–2
Abe Martin	1947–1965	277–155–2
William McAndrew	1921–1924	20–6

^[3]

Notable former players

• Sam Coonrod, current Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies
• Jim Dwyer, Retired Major League Baseball outfielder^[4]
• Steve Finley, Retired Major League Baseball center fielder, 5-time Gold Glove winner, 2-time All-Star^[4]
• Jason Frasor, Major League Baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals^[4]
• Joe Hall, Retired Major League Baseball outfielder^[4]
• Jerry Hairston Jr., Major League Baseball second baseman for the San Diego Padres^[4]
• Duane Kuiper, Retired Major League Baseball second baseman, announcer, commentator for EA Sports baseball video games^[4]
• Al Levine, Former Major League Baseball pitcher currently pitching for the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League.^[4]
• Dan Radison, current Major League Baseball 1st base coach for the Washington Nationals^[4]
• Dave Stieb, Retired Major League Baseball pitcher, 7 Time All-Star, Pitched No-Hitter on September 2, 1990.^[4]
• Bill Stein, Retired Major League Baseball infielder^[4]

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs