Baseball Defeats Creighton, 4-2

Friday, April 23

Carbondale, Ill.

3:00 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

13-22-1, 7-9-1

Creighton

20-15, 9-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Creighton	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0
Southern Illinois	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	1	X	4	10	1

04/23/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

April 23, 2004

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Junior left-hander Eric Haberer allowed just three baserunners and retired 19 of 22 batters in his last six innings to lead Southern Illinois (13-22-1, 7-9-1) to a 4-2 win over second-place Creighton (20-15, 9-3) earlier today at Abe Martin Field.

A native of Bloomington, Ill., Haberer went the distance en route to his first career complete game, nine-inning win.

Haberer struggled early on by issuing five walks in the first three innings, which helped CU build a two-run lead, but once he found his groove, the Bluejays didn't have a chance.

After walking designated hitter Chase Odenreider in the third, Haberer retired nine straight Bluejays and didn't allow another baserunner until the sixth inning.

With two out in the sixth, Haberer walked Tony Daniel and hit Matt Hammer to give CU runners at first and second, but struck out Tony Roth to escape the jam.

Roth's strikeout started another stretch of nine Bluejay hitters in which Haberer would retire in order. Roth would then single with two outs in the ninth to end that streak, before Haberer caught Brad Dutton looking on strikes to polish off his complete game masterpiece.

While Haberer was dominating on the mound, the Saluki offense did its part to help get him the win.

After falling behind, 2-0, in the top of the third, SIU quickly tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning, where P.J. Finigan hit a one-out, two-RBI single to right.

Cory Newman led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Brendan Lutz. Kevin Koski was then hit by pitch. Shortly after that, Koski and Newman executed a double steal to get into scoring position, before touching home on Finigan's hit.

A lead off home run by Matt Brewer pushed SIU's lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Brewer took Bluejay starter Steve Grasley's third delivery deep over the left field wall for his third homer of the season.

SIU capped off its 4-2 win with one final run in the eighth, where Nathan Boldt drew a one-out walk, went to second on a single by Nick Baughman and scored on a hit by Newman.

Haberer improved to 4-1 on the year after giving up just three hits and two runs in nine innings. He also struck out five and walked six. Additionally, he threw a total of 122 pitches with 76 of them strikes.

Grasley fell to 7-4. He scattered eight hits and gave up three runs, while posting six strikeouts to no walks in seven innings.

Offensively, Newman went 3-for-4 with a double, one run scored and one RBI to lead SIU. Baughman and Nathan Emrick followed with two hits each, as the Salukis collected 10 on the day.

Roth, Gabe Lapito and Odenreider combined for CU's quiet three hits.

SIU and CU resume their series tomorrow with a doubleheader at noon.