Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Evansville
Baseball Beats Evansville 7-3 In Finale To Win Series
04/21/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 21, 2002
Carbondale, Ill. - Justin Maurath's career-high two home runs in a game led Southern Illinois University (22-15, 10-10 MVC) to a 7-4 win over the University of Evansville (13-23, 4-12 MVC) on Sunday at Abe Martin Field. The Salukis are now even in MVC play at 10-10.
The win gives SIU its first series win of 2002 and the first-ever series win over Evansville since the Purple Aces joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1995 (eight years).
"It's nice to win a series and I'm glad we bounced back to win this series after losing the series to SMS last week. I really respect Coach Brownlee and their program so it's a good win when we beat them. Being .500 in the MVC is not great, but this is a tough conference and I hope we can continue to keep winning and move up in the standings," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach.
Maurath had a season-high four RBI in addition to his two towering home runs to leftfield, his first two home runs of the season. He hit the home runs in back to back plate appearances and led SIU with a .455 average (5-for-11) with five RBI, two walks, three runs, no strikeouts, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .467 on base percentage in the four game series against Evansville.
"It took him some time to overcome his hand injury and he came back early, but now he's at full strength and we have to get him in the lineup. He hit a couple great balls today. He works hard and is an important part of the team. I'm happy for him and what he's doing for us right now," Callahan stated.
Maurath and Toby Barnett combined to drive in all seven runs for the Salukis. Barnett hit a two-run homer with two outs in the first inning to give SIU a 2-0 lead. After Evansville scored in the third to cut the lead to 2-1, Maurath's sacrifice fly made it 3-1 SIU.
Barnett's RBI single in the fifth drove in the winning run and Maurath followed with his first home run of 2002, a two-run blast, for a 6-3 Saluki lead. The Purple Aces scored a run in the eighth inning, and once again Maurath responded with his second home run, a solo shot, to give SIU the 7-3 lead after eight innings. SIU won by the 7-3 margin.
Senior Luke Nelson (4-3) threw his third complete game this season to pick up his second straight MVC win. Nelson struck out five, walked two and allowed nine hits and three earned runs.
"Luke is a competitor and threw good pitches when they had runners on. He always gives us a chance to win when he's on the mound and today's win was big for us," added Callahan.
Maurath (3-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 runs, sacrifice fly), had three of SIU's nine hits. Barnett (2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, two runs) had a career-high 3 RBI for the third time and second time in the series. Jeff Stanek (2-for-4, 2 runs) also had a strong day at the plate for the Salukis.
SIU will travel to Murray State on Tuesday, April 23 for a single game at 3 p.m. in Murray, Ky.
NOTE: SIU made the change to its schedule regarding Murray State on March 4. The SIU-MSU game on April 23 at 3 p.m. scheduled in Carbondale was moved to Murray, Kentucky. The Feb. 27 game cancelled earlier this year with Murray State will be made up on April 30 at 3 p.m. in Carbondale.
