Ryan Smith runs the bases during a game last season. | www.siusalukis.com
Ryan Smith runs the bases during a game last season. | www.siusalukis.com
Any Saluki worth his salt had better be ready to swipe some bases this season.
SIU's baseball squad stole 38 bases in the 2015-2016 season. A year later, they pinched 100, thanks largely to a change in strategy implemented by assistant coach Ryan Strain.
“A lot of teams practice base running after they scrimmage or after they practice, and by then the kids are tired,” Strain told the SW Illinois News. “It took awhile to put the system in, but as we got going into fall, we felt good about it, and it really took off in the spring.”
At the start of the season, Strain said he was hoping the team would finish the year with at least 60 stolen bases.
“It starts to distract the pitcher and gives us an edge,” Strain said. “Our hitters started seeing better pitches to hit. One of the points of emphasis is not just the stolen base but the threat of the stolen base. It takes the pitcher's focus away from the hitter.”
Strain said the goal of reaching 100 stolen bases came about early on.
"At the beginning of the year, when you’ve got 15 or 20 stolen bases, you think it’s impossible," he said. "Our guys took it to heart, and we took some pride in it.”
Strain is hoping for more.
“I think this was just scratching the surface on what we could do,” he said. “Last year we had some guys that ran really well, but we didn’t have a lot of team speed, which was the impressive part of stealing 100 bases.”
SIU finished the regular season ranked 11th in the nation in stolen bases and had the highest success rate in the Missouri Valley Conference. Connor Kopach led the Salukis with 33 thefts -- the most for an SIU player since 1991. Kopach also tied a school record for most steals in a game, with four against Tennessee Tech. He and fellow Saluki Ryan Smith were ranked first and second, respectively, in stolen bases in the MVC.
SIU has started recruiting players who are good runners and will complement the new style of play. Strain said as the team gets faster players, it should rack up more stolen bases.
“I’m happy with what we got this year and that we hit 100,” Strain said. “I would have really hated to get stuck on 99. Hopefully, next year we can continue to build on this.”
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