Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Indiana St.
Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Indiana State
03/29/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 29, 2003
Terre Haute, Ind. - Pitching was definitely the highlight for both Southern Illinois (15-9, 6-1) and Indiana State (16-5, 5-2) who split a doubleheader earlier today at Sycamore Field. The Salukis won a 3-2 thriller in game one, before falling victim to a 3-0 shutout in the nightcap.
SIU's win in the first game pushed its Missouri Valley Conference record to 6-0, marking the first time in school history that the Salukis have ever begun a season that well in league play. However, SIU didn't get to enjoy the undefeated record for long, as ISU bounced right back to hand the Dawgs their first shutout of the year.
Sophomore left-hander Bryan Rueger, who made just his second career start, coasted through seven solid innings en route to his second win in a little over a week. Rueger, who moved to 2-0 on the year, posted a relief win against Northern Iowa (3/21) prior to winning today's decision as a starter.
Rueger allowed four of his five hits in the first three innings, but beared down to retire eight straight Sycamore batters.
The most crucial of Rueger's hits was a two-out, two-run homer by John Purdom which gave ISU an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
While Rueger kept baffling Sycamore hitters, the SIU offense did just what it needed to pull off the comeback win.
Consecutive singles by P.J. Finigan and Sal Frisella fueled a one-out rally in the top of the third. Toby Barnett followed the hits with a deep fly ball to right which allowed Finigan to trot home on the sacrifice. The run sliced ISU's margin to 2-1.
SIU took the lead in the top of the fifth, which saw Matt Brewer draw a leadoff walk to start a two-run surge. Following Brewer's free ticket, Ross Kowzan singled to center. Finigan then advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt. With one away, a Frisella sacrifice fly scored Brewer. On the ensuing play, Barnett ripped a single to drive in Kowzan for the go-ahead run.
Looking to get some insurance runs, SIU had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the eighth, but came away empty. Luckily, that didn't hurt SIU too much, as Eric Haberer and Finigan provided strong late-game relief to help protect the 3-2 lead.
Haberer relieved Rueger in the eighth and sat down the Sycamores in order. Finigan was then moved to the mound from his spot at short to close what turned out to be a wild ninth.
Finigan was immediately touched for a single by Purdom. Purdom, who took off for second on the next play, was gunned down by Barnett for the first out of the ninth. Chris Hall then drew a walk and moved to third on both a Jereme Hatler single and a passed ball by Barnett.
Surprisingly, Barnett came up big again, pegging Hatler on another attempted steal. With two out and the tying run (Hall) on third, Finigan whiffed Ben Vannatter for the final out to seal the 3-2 win.
In addition to his seven hits, Rueger struck out three batters and gave up two runs in his seven-inning win. Although keeping things interesting while doing so, Finigan managed to pick up his team-leading fourth save.
Travis Soppe (2-1) took the loss for ISU, posting six strikeouts and giving up six hits in 6.2 innings.
Game two belonged to ISU ace Matt Samuels who pitched a complete game shutout with eight strikeouts. Samuels, who also gave up five hits, retired SIU's last 14 batters of the game.
An RBI-single by Hatler in the fourth and a two-RBI triple by Purdom in the fifth accounted for the Sycamores' runs.
SIU had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the fifth, but failed to push a run across. The Salukis also stranded two runners in the top of the fourth, but that was all the offense the Dawgs could muster, as Samuels sat down SIU consecutively in six of nine innings.
Andrew Weber (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season after being touched for eight hits and three runs in six innings. Weber also struck out four. Freshman lefty Adam Snyder replaced Weber to throw the last two frames, where he gave up a hit and a walk to go along with one strikeout.
Purdom led ISU at the plate going 5-for-7 with a home run, a triple, one run scored and four RBI.
Frisella went 4-for-8 with a double and a RBI to pace the SIU offense which struck out a total of 17 times on the day. The Salukis also left 16 runners on base, including 11 in game one.
Ahead 2-1 in the four-game tilt, SIU will close out its series with ISU tomorrow at noon, CST.
