Southern Illinois University
Evansville
Baseball Splits with Evansville, Moves into Second in MVC
04/27/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 27, 2003
Evansville, Ind. - Senior outfielder Sal Frisella went 3-for-7 with a pair of home runs, two runs scored, a double and three RBI to lead Southern Illinois (23-19, 14-9) to a split with Evansville (21-24, 10-14) earlier today in a doubleheader at Braun Stadium. SIU won the first game, 2-1, in extra-innings, before dropping the nightcap, 4-2.
The Salukis, who shared a 2-2 series split with the Aces, missed a golden opportunity to take sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference after Wichita State had dropped three of four games to Creighton and SMS split with Indiana State. Instead, the Dawgs moved into second with a 14-9 (.609) mark that barely tops WSU's 12-8 (.600) league record. Meanwhile, SMS remained atop the Valley at 14-8 (.636).
Frisella crushed a one-out, two-run homer over the left field fence in the top of the eighth to give the Salukis a 2-1 extra-inning win in the first game. Frisella's bomb, which marked his first since March 22, drove in Ross Kowzan, who doubled just before the blast.
UE, however, didn't go down easily in the bottom half of the eighth. Trailing 2-1 with one out and the bases loaded, Eric Haberer forced Michael Snyder to ground out to third for a huge out, to pick up his second save of the season.
In his first start of the season, freshman Tyler Norrick (2-0) picked up the win. Norrick scattered four hits, gave up four walks and struck out six in seven innings of work.
Wes Davis (3-3) took the loss on the hill for UE. Davis went the distance allowing six hits and two runs. He also registered five strikeouts.
SIU, who had been flirting with disaster early on, managed to get out of what appeared to be one jam after another in the nightcap.
Nathan Emrick hit a lead off home run to give SIU a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Emrick's solo shot, which marked his first homer as a Saluki, didn't stand for long, as Mike Serafini went yard to tie the game at 1-1 in the second.
Frisella then homered for the second time on the afternoon to regain a 2-1 lead for the Dawgs in the top of the sixth.
Despite the fact that UE had stranded another six runners on base through the game's first five innings, the Purple Aces finally tore into the Salukis' pitching.
Back-to-back singles by Anthony Albano and Jeff Fontaine started the attack. A passed ball and a huge error by P.J. Finigan helped Albano come home. A RBI-single by Gabe Bauer and a sacrifice fly by Kyle Smith then polished off the 4-2 win for the Aces.
Adam Rogers (5-4) picked up the win after giving up four hits and striking out eight in seven innings.
Haberer (1-2) suffered a relief loss for SIU after having replaced starter Josh Joiner when the game was tied at 2-2. Haberer was touched for three hits and three runs in just one inning.
Frisella, who has seven home runs this season, moved into a three-way tie for fifth on SIU's all-time career home run list. Frisella, Brad Benson and Tim Kratochvil each have 24 career bombs.
SIU will host Illinois on Tuesday, April 29 at 3 p.m.
