Southern Illinois University
Northern Iowa
SIU Baseball Defeats UNI, 9-6, Wins Series 3-1
03/25/2001 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 25, 2001
Southern Illinois University Carbondale (10-14, 4-4 MVC) beat the University of Northern Iowa (11-11, 4-4 MVC) 9-6 in its Missouri Valley Conference series finale on Sunday, March 25, at Abe Martin Field. The Salukis win the series 3-1 and even their MVC record at 4-4, 10-14 overall.
SIU leads the all-time series 23-11, including a 17-10 mark under head coach Dan Callahan.
"I thought our guys did a great job after losing the Friday game. Obviously the best you can do in a series after losing the opener is win three games and I think we did a great job of coming back and doing that," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach. "Hopefully we can build on that. It's going to be our goal from here on out going into every weekend is not to play well, split or win three of four, but to win four games every weekend regardless of how we do it."
The Salukis jumped out to a 7-1 lead thanks to the top and bottom of the order as well as a hot Roman Schooley, who was 2-for-3 with a home run, a run, three-RBIs and a walk.
"Our top three hitters had eight hits today, our bottom three hitters had five hits today and that's a pretty good day and you have Roman Schooley in the five spot with a 2-for-3 day. I'm pleased to see we got 15 hits today and we hit well yesterday. We?re getting some guys on track," added Callahan. "Cory Newman put in some extra work this morning and I'm happy to see it paid off for him today."
Schooley went wild in the four game series, going 10-for-14 with three home runs, nine-RBIs, five runs scored, a double and three walks to improve his batting average 105 points from .208 to .313, which is second on the team.
"A guy who puts in as much time working as he does offensively deserves to get some success after struggling early in the season. He's done a good job and is starting to get his bat going now. I'm glad to see him have the weekend he had. It helps us, it helps him and I'm sure he feels a lot better," Callahan stated.
Schooley hit a three run home run to open the scoring in the first inning, Ryan Murray and Luke Nelson each drove in a run in the second, and Justin Maurath and Cory Newman each drove in runs in the third inning to give SIU a 7-1 lead.
After Northern Iowa cut the lead to 7-4 in the top of the fifth, Justin Maurath hit a two run home run to give the Salukis a 9-4 lead and put the game away.
Billy Hardin (1-4) was the benefactor of the Saluki hitting spree, earning his first win of the year with a five inning performance. Hardin allowed seven hits and five runs, striking out five and walking five.
"Hardin's line doesn't look very good but one of the things he's done is pitch better than the line has shown. I think things are starting to even out, he's pitched much better than this and lost. It's nice to see him get a win, he deserved one," said Callahan.
In addition to Schooley's hot bat, Murray (3-for-4, RBI, run), Nelson (3-for-5, double, RBI, run), Maurath (2-for-4, three-RBIs, home run, run), Cory Newman (2-for-4, RBI, run), and Greg Andrews (2-for-5, run) played big roles in the SIU hitting spree.
The Salukis host the University of Illinois on Wednesday, March 28, at 2 p.m. at Abe Martin Field before traveling to Indiana State University for an MVC series on March 30-April 1.
