Baseball Beats Bradley, 4-2, 11-1

Saturday, March 27

Carbondale, Ill.

12:00 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

5-13, 1-0

Bradley

11-5, 0-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Bradley	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	7	3
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	X	4	9	2

03/27/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

March 27, 2004

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Eric Haberer allowed one run and posted four strikeouts in seven innings, including six that were scoreless, and Nathan Emrick extended his hitting streak to 11 games by going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI to help Southern Illinois (6-13, 2-0) to a 4-2, 11-1, doubleheader sweep of Bradley (11-6, 0-2) earlier today in both teams' Missouri Valley Conference opener at Abe Martin Field.

The pair of wins pushed SIU's winning streak to three games, as the Salukis have now won six of their last seven.

The show belonged to Haberer in game one, who retired six of BU's first seven hitters of the game. Also holding the Braves hitless in each of the second, fourth and fifth innings, Haberer would be touched for his only run, which came home with the help of two Saluki errors in the top of the sixth.

Haberer was only in trouble on two occasions - in the third and sixth - where he had two runners on with at least one out, but calmly pitched out of the jam.

The Saluki defense also backed up Haberer in the fourth, where a diving snow cone catch by Matt Brewer in right, along with a hit-saving stab up the middle by shortstop P.J. Finigan helped him sit down the Braves in order.

While Haberer did his part on the mound, SIU gave him the adequate run support he needed to polish off the win, but not without the help of some key BU errors.

SIU scored one unearned run in each of the fourth and fifth innings. Brewer, who reached on an error by third baseman Jason Newburger, ended up scoring all the way from first on a double by Cory Newman in the fourth.

Emrick then singled to center, went to third on a hit by Andrews and touched home on an error by catcher Dan Puente to give the Dawgs a 2-0 lead in the fifth.

After Puente cut SIU's lead to 2-1 in the sixth, the Salukis answered with another run in the seventh when Kevin Koski hit a lead off double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrews.

Ahead 3-1, the Dawgs added one more insurance run in the eighth, where Erik Alvarez reached on a lead off single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brewer, advanced to third on a groundout by Tyler Schooley and touched home on a wild pitch by BU relief pitcher Mike Jakubowski.

Josh Joiner, who replaced Haberer in the eighth, sat down BU in order before Andrew Weber entered the game looking to pick up his second straight save. Weber would do so, but not without a little drama in the ninth.

Weber gave up a single to Vandehey, the first batter he faced. One batter and one out later, he was touched for another hit, this time by Rene Aqueron. After both runners moved up a base thanks to a passed ball, Vandehey scored on an ensuing grounder to third by Brian Meischner.

With two out, Weber then got Brad Canada to fly out to right to polish off the 4-2 win. Haberer moved to 2-0 on the year, while Weber posted his second save of the season.

Collin Walker (3-2) took the fall for BU. Walker scattered eight hits in seven innings. He also allowed three runs, issued two walks and struck out five.

In the nightcap, SIU scored five runs on six hits in the bottom of the third en route to a 11-1 win in eight innings.

Five straight Salukis hit safely and scored with one out in the third, as every SIU hitter came to the plate. Brewer, Nathan Boldt, Newman, Koski and Finigan accounted for the hits and runs. A RBI-double by Andrews and a sacrifice fly by Emrick also helped in the attack.

All but one Saluki starter got at least one hit in the game, which ended on the league's 10-run rule when Andrews capped off the 11-1 rout with a lead off, walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth. For Andrews, the round-tripper marked his team-leading seventh of the season and 22nd of his career. His 22 career bombs now occupy the ninth-place spot on SIU's all-time career home run list.

Right-hander Marshall Tucker snapped a four-game losing streak on the mound by tying a career-high six strikeouts in seven innings of work. He improved to 1-4 on the year.

Derek Goins (3-2) suffered the loss for the Braves, after lasting just two innings, where he gave up seven runs and 11 hits.

SIU registered 26 hits on the day, including 17 in game two. After committing two errors in game one, the Saluki defense went without an error in the nightcap to mark its second time this season that it has gone a game without committing an error.

Emrick led all Salukis at the plate by hitting a blistering .800 (4-for-5) with two runs and two RBI on the day. Newman (5), Andrews (4), Boldt (4) and Finigan (3) rounded out SIU's balanced attack with a minimum of three hits apiece in the two games.

SIU and BU conclude their four-game series with a noon doubleheader tomorrow. The first game will be a seven-inning matchup, and will be followed by a nine-inning nightcap.