Southern Illinois University
Wichita St.
Baseball Comes up Short Against Wichita State
05/24/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 24, 2003
Wichita, Kan. - Freshman right-hander Jereme Foster struck out a career high seven batters, while no-hitting the Salukis through four innings to lead Wichita State (46-25) to a 2-1 win over Southern Illinois (30-24) earlier today in the championship round of the ConAgra Foods/Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. SIU and WSU will now play one final game tonight at 7 p.m., which will be aired live on Fox Sports Midwest and Metro Sports.
It was a solid college baseball game played by both teams, however, what hurt SIU the most was that it couldn't hit. After averaging 13 hits in each of its first three MVC Tournament games, the Salukis were limited to just four hits thanks to Foster, who did a good job of keeping SIU hitters off-balance.
WSU took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, which saw Bryan Erstad lead off with a triple to right center. Brandon Green then ripped a one-out, RBI-single to right.
Foster, who SIU touched for four runs on five hits on May 11 in Carbondale, was seemingly untouchable early on. Through the game's first four innings, he retired SIU's first 12 Saluki batters, six of which he struck out.
Despite the fact Foster was cruising on the mound, SIU showed some life in the bottom of the sixth. P.J. Finigan hit a two-out single to right and quickly scored all the way from first on an ensuing double down the left field line by Nathan Emrick. Unfortunately, that was all the offense SIU could come up with in the 2-1 loss.
Jake Alley (7-3) suffered the loss for SIU. Alley gave up six hits and two runs in 4.1 innings of work. The native of Anna, Ill., also struck out three.
Meanwhile, Foster (4-0) allowed just three hits and gave up one run, while fanning seven in six sparkling innings. Left-hander Tommy Hottovy then struck out two and scattered one hit in one inning to earn his third save of the season.
Offensively, WSU was led by Logan Sorensen who went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Sorensen's doubles accounted for two of the Shockers' four extra-base hits. Finigan, Emrick, Toby Barnett and Nathan Boldt each had one hit apiece for SIU's quiet four hits. The Dawgs also struck out 11 times, which tied a season-high.
SIU and WSU both face elimination in the final game of the ConAgra Foods/MVC Tournament tonight at 7 p.m., CST. The game will be aired live on Fox Sports Midwest and Metro Sports. The winner will clinch the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
