Southern Illinois University
Southeast Missouri
Southeast Missouri Hammers SIU, 19-1
04/18/2001 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 30, 2001
Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale (14-24, 8-12 MVC) was hammered 19-1 by Southeast Missouri State University (26-14, 8-4) at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Wednesday, April 18.
"I'm embarrassed and this hurts," stated Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach. "Allowing six unearned runs in the first inning set the tone for the game. If we play better defense they don't score any runs in the first inning and it could be a different game."
The Salukis committed five errors and only had three hits. SEMO swept the season series (won 11-5 at SIU on 4/4) and scored 19 runs against SIU at Capaha Field for the second straight year (won 19-17 in 2000).
The Salukis scored a run in the top of the ninth inning to avoid the shutout. SIU's Roman Schooley went 0-for-2 and was pinch hit for in the ninth as his 18 game hitting streak came to an end in the loss.
The Indians scored six unearned runs in the first inning on five hits and three Saluki errors, giving ace Todd Pennington (8-1, 0.97 era) all the room he needed to dominate the game. Pennington struck out nine Salukis, walked one and only allowed two hits in six innings of work for his eighth win.
"Pennington did a good job against us and you can't give a six run lead to the guy ranked third in the nation in era. We had our hands full after that and that's too big a deficit," added Callahan.
SIU never could mount any offense against Pennington. Trailing 10-0 in the sixth the Salukis allowed SEMO to score nine more runs on six hits including a grand slam to take a 19-0 lead.
Carterville native Ryan Aird (2-5) lost his third straight start allowing five unearned runs and six hits in two innings of work. Seven SIU pitchers combined to allow 17 hits. Jerel Deitering (one inning, one hit) and Scott Lucht (two innings, strikeout, no hits) were the only pitchers to not allow a run.
SIU was led by Scott Hankey (1-for-2) and Jeff Stanek (1-for-2, double).
The Salukis will be back at Abe Martin Field this weekend to host Missouri State in an important MVC series on April 20-22.
