Southern Illinois University
Wichita St.
Baseball Eliminated by Wichita State at MVC Tournament
05/24/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 24, 2002
Top-seeded Wichita State University (44-14) eliminated Southern Illinois University (32-24) from the 2002 Missouri Valley Tournament with a 17-1 pounding on Friday at Eck Stadium.
The game was a completion of Thursday's suspended game, which was stopped in the sixth inning due to rain. The Shockers outscored SIU 12-0 after play was resumed to hand SIU its second loss of the 2002 MVC Tournament, a double elimination event. The Salukis lost their tournament opener to SMS 14-7 on Wednesday.
"I'm very disappointed. I thought we'd be much more competitive at this tournament. I expected the weekend split with Wichita State to give us a lift and it didn't. I'm embarrassed by the outcome of the game, but not of our effort. We didn't quit, but we didn't execute and Wichita State's bullpen was outstanding. I think we had two hits after the game resumed. Peterson was much better than when we faced him in the series. The grand slam put us down 9-1 and it's tough to come back from that against them," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach.
"I think we've got some good young kids in the program and we'll miss guys like Luke Nelson and Jeff Stanek, just to name a few. I thought we had a very good recruiting class last year with P.J. Finigan and a few freshman pitchers. I think we're ready to turn the corner. We've added six or seven to this group and I think there are better days ahead for Saluki baseball. I think our seniors have set the foundation for some good years to come."
The Shockers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on two walks, a single and Brian Burgamy's groundout. Wichita State added another run on Brandon Green's leadoff home run off SIU starter Ryan Welch in the second inning for a 2-0 lead.
The Salukis battled back in the bottom of the third inning when Ross Kowzan singled with two outs and P.J. Finigan tripled off Shocker starter Adam Peterson to drive in Kowzan and cut the WSU lead to 2-1. SIU had a chance in the fourth inning to tie the game or possibly take the lead with the bases loaded and one out but Toby Barnett was thrown out at the plate on Cory Newman's grounder and Ryan Murray grounded out to first to end SIU's last threat.
Wichita State added two runs in the fifth inning on two walks, and error and an RBI single to take a 4-1 lead and chase SIU's Welch, who left after he walked two to open the inning. The Shockers scored a run in the sixth inning off reliever Eric Haberer before the rains suspended play. WSU's Randy Walter came out and hit a grand slam against Jake Alley when play resumed to take a 9-1 lead. The Shockers finished the sixth inning with eight runs, added four runs in the seventh inning and scored a run in the ninth inning for the 17-1 final margin.
Peterson (8-3) struck out five and walked two in five innings, while allowing five hits and one run to pick up the win.
Welch (5-4) struck out three, walked four and allowed six hits and four runs in four innings.
Finigan (2-for-3, RBI, double), Kowzan (1-for-2, run), Frisella (1-for-3) and Andrews (1-for-3) led the Salukis.
The Salukis finish the season with 32 wins, the most under Dan Callahan during his eight years, and the most since 1990 (49-14), when the Salukis won their last MVC title under Itch Jones.
