Southern Illinois University
Saint Louis
Baseball Blows Out Billikens, 14-0, in Regular Season Finale
05/13/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 13, 2003
Sauget, Ill. - A two-run homer by Tyler Schooley and a grand slam by Sal Frisella accounted for six of the team's runs, as Southern Illinois (27-23) pounded Saint Louis (18-29), 14-0, earlier tonight at GMC Stadium. Frisella's grand slam and Schooley's round-tripper marked career firsts, as the long balls added to a total of 19 Saluki hits on the night.
Both teams used wooden bats due to the size of GMC Stadium. Dimensions of the ballpark consist of 317 feet down the right and left field lines, 385 feet in straightaway center and 325 feet in the power alleys.
It didn't take long for SIU to take advantage of the friendly confines of GMC Stadium. With two out in the top of the second, Nathan Boldt walked and scored on a home run by Tyler Schooley. Schooley's smash, which marked his first as a Saluki, landed just inside the right field foul pole to give SIU a 2-0 lead.
The Dawgs added three more runs off four hits in the top of the third. Matt Brewer started off the rally with a lead off double and scored on a one-out double by Nathan Emrick. Emrick and Sal Frisella would then score on RBI-singles by Boldt and Toby Barnett to extend the Salukis' lead to 5-0.
From then on, it was like batting practice for SIU. In the top of the sixth, the Salukis scored six runs on seven hits. Four of those runs came on a two-out grand slam by Frisella. Frisella, who became the second Saluki to hit a grand slam this season, moved into a tie for third on the school's all-time career home run list. He and Chuck Curry (1976-79) now share that spot with 27 career bombs apiece.
After its huge six-run inning, SIU scored three more runs to polish off the 14-0 shutout. A RBI-single by Markle and a sacrifice fly by Brendan Lutz plated two runs in the seventh and a RBI-single by Barnett scored Ben Hoffman in the ninth.
Jerel Deitering, who moved to 2-4 on the mound this season, went five innings in which he gave up three hits and one walk, while striking out two. Jake Alley then threw three innings in which he allowed one hit and struck out three. Alley's three strikeouts pushed his career total to 275 Ks, as he now needs just four whiffs to surpass Jason Frasor (1996-99) for the school's all-time career strikeout record.
Kurt Struckhoff suffered the loss for the Billikens. Struckhoff gave up four hits and five runs in just 2.1 innings of work.
Offensively, several Salukis had multiple-hits, including Kowzan (2), Frisella (2), Barnett (3), Boldt (3), Markle (2) and Brewer (2).
SIU, who ended its 2003 regular season at 27-23, will be idle during the final week of league play. The Salukis will hope to enter the MVC Tournament as a No. 3 seed.
