CARBONDALE, Ill. – Saluki baseball head coach Ken Henderson announced the schedule for the 2016 season on Wednesday. The schedule features 34 home games, with 21 road games and one neutral site game. Southern will play 18 games against teams (Iowa, St. John’s, Illinois, Dallas Baptist, Missouri State, and Bradley) that qualified for the 2015 NCAA Tournament, including 11 games at home this season.
Starting Feb. 27, the Salukis will play at home for seven-straight weekends. In that span, Southern will host a weekend series against three opponents that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Other non-conference opponents slated to visit Richard “Itchy” Jones stadium for a weekend series this year include Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, Memphis, and Jacksonville State. In Missouri Valley Conference play, Southern will host Indiana State to open league action on April 8. MVC foes Wichita State and Bradley will also visit Carbondale this season.
In other non-conference action, Southern will play SEMO, Austin Peay, Murray State, Belmont Eastern Illinois, and Arkansas State in midweek games. The Salukis will face Saint Louis in a neutral site game on May 17.
The road portion of the schedule will be just as tough for the Salukis this season. SIU will open the season at McNeese State on Feb. 19. The away series against the Cowboys will be the only weekend SIU will be away from Itchy Jones Stadium until April 15. Southern will hit the road for four of the final six weeks in the regular season, traveling to Dallas Baptist, Illinois State, Missouri State, and Evansville in MVC play.
“We are excited about this schedule, which is one of the most challenging we have undertaken,” Henderson said. “I am especially pleased that our fans will have an opportunity to watch a large number of games at Itchy Jones Stadium against some outstanding programs.”
The 2016 MVC tournament will be hosted by Indiana State and begin on May 24.
2016 Southern Illinois Schedule
