Southern Illinois University
Wichita St.
Baseball Loses to Wichita State, Ends Season at 30-25
05/24/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 24, 2003
Box Score?|? Quotes | All-Tournament Team
Wichita, Kan. - Southern Illinois' (30-25) magical Missouri Valley Conference Tournament run came to a heart-breaking end earlier tonight when the Salukis fell to Wichita State (47-25), 3-0, in front of a crowd of 4,266 at Eck Stadium-Home of Tyler Field. With the win, the Shockers clinched the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Baseball Championship.
SIU had both the defense and the pitching to get at least one win in its two games against WSU, it just didn't have the hitting. After striking out 11 times in the 2 p.m., game against the Shockers, the Salukis whiffed another 12 times in the 7 p.m., nationally-televised matchup, aired live on Fox Sports Net.
The main reason why SIU ran into so much trouble offensively was Shocker left-hander David Sanders who threw a nasty nine-inning, complete-game shutout.
Sanders, who didn't even make his team's travel roster when WSU visited Carbondale earlier this season, was virtually untouchable. In fact, he fanned seven of the Salukis' first 11 batters of the game.
Since Sanders was cruising at such a remarkable pace, the Shocker offense decided to give him a little run support in the fourth and fifth innings.
WSU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a RBI-single by Nick McCoola. McCoola's hit scored Drew Moffitt, who had doubled earlier in the frame.
Moffitt then singled home Nick Blasi, and a ground ball out by Bryan Erstad scored Ryan Bell to push WSU's lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth, and that was all the cushion Sanders would need.
Sanders (7-4), who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, only gave up four hits and issued one walk in nine innings. His 12 strikeouts also marked a career-high. Additionally, he only allowed six Salukis on the basepaths for the entire game, and not one of them made it past second base.
Jerel Deitering (2-5) suffered the loss on the hill for SIU. Although his numbers may not indicate, Deitering pitched a solid 4.1 innings in which he scattered nine hits and allowed three runs. The junior from Auburn, Wash., also struck out two.
Relief pitchers Marshall Tucker and Bryan Rueger then held the Shockers scoreless for the remainder of the game.
In both games of the MVC Championship round against WSU, the Salukis only scored one run on eight hits, while striking out a total of 23 times.
Meanwhile, WSU scored just five runs on 21 hits. The Shockers also left a two-game total of 19 runners on base.
SIU ends its 2003 season at 30-25 overall and 17-13 in the MVC.
Notes:Senior Toby Barnett and junior Greg Andrews were named to the MVC Tournament All-Tourney Team. Barnett was voted designated hitter, while Andrews was second base. Both were among 12 student-athletes named to the team, which was selected by the MVC Tournament media.
