Most of the SIU baseball roster will return next year, strengthened with lessons learned from those departing this year.

Four seniors, pitchers Aaron Hauge and Bryce Sablotny and outfielders Parker Osborne and Tyler Rolland, will take the field at Itchy Jones Stadium for the final times this weekend.

SIU has 26 freshmen and sophomores on the roster this year, placing more importance on the leadership of its veteran members.

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Coach Ken Henderson said Hauge and Sablotny, the Salukis’ regular Friday and Saturday starters, provide valuable leadership.

“They’ve been setting good examples,” Henderson said. “I think that’s the reason we’ve played so well lately.”

With an ERA of 2.34, Hauge is one of the top pitchers in the Missouri Valley Conference despite battling a slight tear to an elbow ligament, which kept him out of his last two starts. He said while the injury has caused him to put more focus on getting a job, his dream of going pro is still option one.

“The draft is [an option],” Hauge said. “I’m going to graduate with my degree and get a job. With my [injury], that’s one thing that’s been discussed a lot more. 

Hauge, who majors in business and marketing, said he would like to enter the marketing field or become a coach.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” he said. “I’ve been trying to focus on baseball. I think I would enjoy for a few years being a pitching coach.”

Sablotny said 2015 is most likely his final season as a baseball player. He has an outside chance at a sixth season, pending paperwork after taking a medical redshirt his senior season because Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery.

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He interviewed on April 29 for a job as a gun salesman at Gander Mountain in Marion and said his plans are to eventually own his own business.

Sablotny has spent years learning the ins-and-outs of business management from his father, who runs Sablotny Floors in Jacksonville.

Osborne and Rolland have played in left field and right field and batted fourth and fifth respectively for the last 12 games.

“They’ve been huge for our young guys,” Henderson said. “We started playing better when [Rolland’s] hand healed up and Osborne started hitting.”

Rolland began the year battling a hand injury sustained while swinging two weeks before the season. He started off batting .222 playing seven of SIU’s first 22 games, but has since entrenched himself in the No. 5 spot in the order for the last 18 games. He now has a .288 batting average, third best on the team. 

Rolland said the injury left him unable to squeeze anything for a few days, but he kept battling.

“I just had to get in there and make the most of my opportunity,” Rolland said. “That’s what I’ve been doing ever since then.”

After the season’s end, Rolland will take summer classes and prepare for dental school.

“They always say the best dental school is the one you get into,” Rolland said. “I’m from Oklahoma, so I’d like to go back there. Also, there’s one around here I’d like to go to.”

Osborne will spend the summer as a bench coach for the Walla Walla Sweets, a collegiate summer team in the West Coast League, where he played in 2014. He will coach three of his current teammates — sophomore second baseman Connor Kopach, sophomore center fielder Dyllin Mucha and freshman pitcher Michael Baird — on the team.

Osborne said while the team’s record is frustrating, he knew what the Salukis were in for at the start of the season with so many young players.

“I’ve enjoyed coming out here every day, being around these guys and watching them grow as players,” Osborne said. 

Thomas Donley can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3311 ext. 269.