Southern Illinois University
Illinois St.
Baseball Sweeps Illinois State 3-0 & 10-8
04/06/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 6, 2002
Normal, Ill. - Junior Sal Frisella's grand slam led to Southern Illinois University's (17-10, 6-5 MVC) 10-8 comeback win in game two and a doubleheader sweep over Illinois State University (7-17, 3-7 MVC) on Saturday at Redbird Field.
"These were two big wins today. Sal Frisella had a career day at the plate and Eric Haberer and Ryan Welch both pitched well in our two wins. We really needed to get a sweep if we wanted to win this series," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach.
Frisella's hit his career-high sixth home run in a season off SIU reliever Jake Stewart with the score tied 5-5 in the seventh inning and the bases loaded. Stewart entered the game to pitch to Frisella.
Trailing 5-3 to start the seventh inning, SIU scored six runs on just two hits and an error. Three straight Salukis walked to open the inning before P.J. Finigan's two-RBI single off reliever Todd Stein tied the score at 5-5. Stein struck out Jeff Stanek, then walked Toby Barnett and was pulled, setting up Stewart for Frisella's first career grand and a 9-5 lead.
Barnett added an RBI single in the eighth inning for a 10-5 lead and the Salukis held on to win 10-8. The Redbirds scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to 10-8, before SIU reliever Eric Haberer (2-0), a Nearby Bloomington native, struck out ISU's Greg Blaesing to end the game with the bases loaded for his second career win.
Haberer pitched 4.2 innings of relief to pick up the win. He allowed six hits, three runs, three walks and struck out two on a career-high 81 pitches.
ISU's Stein (0-3) suffered the loss, giving up three runs in just one third of an inning. Frisella led SIU with a career-high six RBI and was 2-for-5. Barnett (2-for-4, 2 runs, RBI), Ross Kowzan (1-for-2, 2 runs) and Finigan (1-for-4, 2 RBI, run) also made their marks in game two.
SIU won game one of the doubleheader 3-0 behind the dominant pitching performance of freshman Ryan Welch (3-1). Welch threw his first complete game to pick up his third win of the season. He went seven innings, allowing just five hits, no walks and struck out two on 79 pitches.
Cory Newman's two-RBI double gave SIU a 2-0 lead in the second inning and Finigan scored from first on a throwing error in the fifth inning for the final 3-0 margin.
ISU's Kyle Bloom (2-3) went the distance and suffered the loss, allowing one earned run, three total runs, five SIU hits and three walks while striking out six.
SIU NOTES, Cory Newman hit safely in both games to extend his career-high hitting streak to 14 games.
