Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Notre Dame
Baseball Falls To Notre Dame 6-3
03/14/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 14, 2002
San Antonio, Texas - Southern Illinois University's (10-3) eight game winning streak was snapped by a 6-3 loss to Notre Dame (7-6) on day two of the Irish Baseball Classic on Thursday at Wolff Stadium.
"It's disappointing to see our streak end. We haven't lost in three weeks but we got beat by a good pitcher and a good team today," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach. "Grant Johnson pitched well and we couldn't get going offensively. Ryan Welch and Josh Joiner both pitched better for us than the score indicated."
Grant Johnson (2-1), a Notre Dame freshman, pitched eight innings and held the Salukis to five hits and one run while striking out six to pick up the win.
SIU's Ryan Welch (1-1) made his first college start and allowed just five hits and two runs in five innings. He struck out three and walked three before leaving the game down 2-1 and eventually suffered the loss. Josh Joiner allowed four runs in three innings of relief for the Salukis.
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the sixth, SIU cut the lead in half with a run on Jeff Stanek's sacrifice fly scoring Cory Newman. In the bottom half of the inning, Notre Dame scored four runs on four singles, a triple and a passed ball to take a 6-1 lead.
The Salukis scored two runs in the top of the ninth off UND reliever Matt Laird. Toby Barnett tripled to drive in Stanek and Barnett scored on Sal Frisella's RBI groundout for the final 6-3 margin.
Frisella (2-for-4, RBI), Newman (1-for-3, run), Luke Nelson (1-for-3), Barnett (1-for-4, run RBI) and Stanek (run, RBI) led the Salukis.
SIU resumes play at Notre Dame's Irish Classic with single games against Creighton on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and on Saturday (championship or third place game vs TBA). Jerel Deitering (3-0, 2.22 ERA) will get the start against Creighton for the Salukis.
