Southern Illinois University
Missouri St.
Baseball Falls To SMS 14-7 In MVC Tournament Opener
05/22/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 22, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
Wichita, Kans. - #3 seed Southwest Missouri State University (38-17, 19-13 MVC) came from behind to beat #4 seed Southern Illinois University (32-23, 17-15 MVC) 14-7 in the first game of the 2002 MVC Tournament. SIU trailed only 8-6 after two innings, but was outscored 6-1 the rest of the way.
"I thought we had a great weekend against Wichita State last weekend and I thought the momentum would carry over today and it didn't. We didn't pitch well and after the second inning we didn't swing the bats well. (SMS's) Brad Ziegler got better as the game went on. We should have been more aggressive at the plate on some of the pitches we took," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach.
"I expected Luke Nelson to have a good day after a tough outing last Friday, but we made too many mistakes on the mound and you can't blame the windy conditions. I knew there would be some home runs hit in the game. We have to play with more intensity and swing the bats much better if we want to win in this tournament. We didn't do any of the three phases (hitting, pitching, fielding) well so we didn't give ourselves a chance to win today."
SIU opened the game with a P.J. Finigan double and scored on an error to give the Salukis a 1-0 lead. SMS bounced back to score three runs off SIU starter Luke Nelson on a three-run home run by Jeremy Isenhower to take a 3-0 lead after one inning.
The Salukis exploded for five runs in the top of the second inning against SMS ace Brad Zeigler on five hits, a walk and a hit batsmen. Cory Newman, Ryan Murray and P.J. Finigan hit three straight singles, scoring Newman on Finigan's hit. Justin Maurath followed with a double to drive in Murray. After a Jeff Stanek walk loaded the bases, Sal Frisella was hit by a pitch to bring in Finigan. Greg Andrews followed with a two-RBI single and SIU led 6-3 after an inning and a half.
The Bears came right back in their half of the second inning, scoring five runs on four hits, two walks, a hit batsmen and a wild pitch by Nelson. The big blow was a three-run home run by Greg Mathis, which ended the day for Nelson and gave SMS an 8-6 lead.
SMS's Ziegler (7-3) took control after the second inning and limited the Salukis to just one run and five hits the rest of the way with help from reliever Shaun Marcum, who pitched the ninth inning. Ziegler struck out ten, allowed 11 hits, two walks and seven runs in eight innings of work.
Nelson (6-6) was pulled after an inning and a third and eight runs on five hits, three walks and two wild pitches. SIU's Marshall Tucker, Bryan Rueger and Jake Alley each allowed two runs in relief of Nelson for the 14-run total. SIU managed just one more run in the seventh on a Scott Hankey RBI single, cutting the lead to 10-7, but SMS scored four in the eighth inning to put the game away.
Frisella (2-for-4, RBI), Andrews (2-for-5, 2 RBI, run), Finigan (2-for-5, RBI, 2 runs), Maurath (2-for-5, RBI, run) and Murray (1-for-2, run) led SIU.
Southern Illinois will face the winner of the Wichita State/Northern Iowa game on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The Salukis must win or face elimination in the double elimination tournament at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kans. Freshman Ryan Welch (5-3) will start for the Salukis in game two.
The Salukis split with Northern Iowa and Wichita State in 2002, winning two of four games in each series.
