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2013 SALUKI BASEBALL
SIUSALUKIS.COM
One of the best players in program history, P.J.
Finigan enters his third season as pitching coach
for SIU.
An infielder/pitcher for the Salukis from 2002-
05, Finigan was the 2005 Joe Carter Missouri Val-
ley Conference Player of the Year. He helped the
Salukis to three 30-win seasons before he spent
four seasons in the Detroit Tigers organization.
In Finigan’s second year as pitching coach,
three Saluki pitchers earned All-Missouri Valley
Conference honors as Todd Eaton, Cody Forsythe
and Cameron Maldonado each earned a spot on
the second team. Eaton was also a member of the
MVC’s All-Tournament team as the Salukis ad-
vanced to the championship game.
The 2012 squad issued the second fewest walks
among Valley schools in conference games, a total
of 58 walks and an average of fewer than three per
nine innings. In addition, the Salukis’ staff struck
out 409 batters, the highest SIU total since 2005
and the third most in school history.
Finigan has been instrumental in the develop-
ment of lefty Cody Forsythe, who has earned All-
Conference honors in each of the last two years.
Forsythe has posted a 9-4 record and a 1.54 ERA
in 14 conference starts over the past two seasons.
In 2011, his first season as pitching coach, Fini-
gan’s impact was felt immediately. Working with
just one senior and 10 freshmen or sophomores
on the 11-man pitching staff, which was the third
smallest in the nation, Finigan held the unit to-
gether and saw the staff lower its ERA from 6.62
in 2010 to 4.53 in his first season.
In Finigan’s first season as pitching coach, the
Salukis issued 173 walks, the lowest total in the
Missouri Valley Conference and the lowest total by
an SIU team since 2007. The Salukis also record-
ed 14 saves, the third most in school history, de-
spite season-ending injuries to key relievers. Tyler
Dray stepped into the closer’s role and was named
a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, an
award that Finigan won in 2002.
Prior to returning to his alma mater, Finigan
spent four seasons in the Detroit Tigers organiza-
tion. Following his senior season at SIU, he was
selected by the Tigers in the seventh round (210th
overall) in the 2005 draft. Finigan was the first
pitcher of his draft class to reach double-A, doing
so in 2006. He remained there until 2007, when
he went on the disabled list for two seasons. Inju-
ries to his elbow and three surgeries, including two
Tommy John surgeries, forced him to retire from
playing.
Finigan had a monster senior season at the
plate for Southern in 2005, leading the MVC with
a .386 batting average. He had 48 RBIs, four tri-
ples and six home runs that year.
However, he did his real damage on the mound.
He posted a 9-3 record with a 3.24 ERA. Finigan’s
four complete games that year are the second most
by a Saluki since 1991. That season he also struck
out 107 batters in 105 innings pitched and finished
his career with a 12-5 record. He played in 218
games, the fifth-most by a Saluki in program his-
tory.
Finigan also ranks fourth at SIU in career at-
bats (837), sixth in doubles (47), seventh in hits
(251), and triples (13), and ninth in RBI (135).
A Springfield native, Finigan and his wife,
Courtney, were married in the fall of 2010 and are
expecting their first child in May. They currently
reside in Energy, Ill.
P.J.
FINIGAN
Assistant Coach - Pitching
Experience: 3rd Year
At SIU: 3rd Year
Birthday: Sept. 30, 1982
High School: Springfield Lanphier (Ill.)
Alma Mater: SIU, 2005
ANDY
JUDKINS
Volunteer Assistant Coach
Experience: 3rd Year
At SIU: 1st Year
Birthday:
High School: Lakeville (Minn.)
Alma Mater: Concordia, Bachelor’s, 2007; Minnesota State, Master’s, 2010
Andy Judkins joins the Salukis as a volunteer
assistant coach for the 2012 season with over four
years experience coaching college baseball. His du-
ties include working with the catchers in addition to
assisting with the hitters.
Judkins spent the last two seasons as an as-
sistant coach with Central Arizona College where
he also worked with catchers and hitters. Central
Arizona was the national runner up in the 2011
NJCAA World Series and advanced to districts in
2012. In his two years with Central Arizona, six
Vaqueros players were selected in the MLB draft.
That list includes 2011 Arizona Community Col-
lege Athletic Conference Player of the Year Keenyn
Walker, who was taken by the White Sox with the
47th overall pick and Fernando Perez, who was a
third round pick of the Padres in 2012.
This past summer Judkins was the manager
of the Thunder Bay (Ontario) Border Cats of the
Northwoods Collegiate League. Prior to his time
in Thunder Bay, he spent two years as an assistant
coach for the Rochester (Minn.) Honkers, also in
the Northwoods League.
Judkins worked as a graduate assistant coach
at Minnesota State University for two years while
working on his master’s degree in sports adminis-
tration. He helped the Mavericks to two Northern
Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) titles as
well as one North Central Regional Championship
and a spot in the 2010 Division II World Series. In
his two years there, three players were taken in the
MLB draft.
He graduated from Concordia University in St.
Paul, Minn. where he majored in sport manage-
ment and exercise science. There he played two
seasons as an outfielder and was named first team
All-NSIC in 2007. He played in the Northwoods
League with the St. Cloud (Minn.) Riverbats in the
summer of 2006 while current SIU assistant coach
Ryan Strain was an assistant coach. Judkins began
his college career as an outfielder at Iowa Central
Community College where he started two years
and helped the team to the NJCAA World Series
in 2004 and a district tournament appearance in
2005.
A native of Lakeville, Minn., Judkins gradu-
ated from Lakeville High School where he was a
two-sport athlete and an all-conference selection in
baseball as a senior. He married his wife Tracie in
September of 2010. In January of 2013, they wel-
comed the birth of their first child.
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COACHING STAFF