Baseball Swept By SMS

Saturday, April 3

Springfield, Mo.

2:00 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

7-15-1, 3-2-1

Missouri St.

10-13, 2-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Missouri State	0	0	0	1	0	1	X	2	6	0

04/03/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

April 3, 2004

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Right-handers Brett Sinkbeil and Paul Marsala each turned in impressive pitching performances to highlight Southwest Missouri State's (11-13, 3-3) doubleheader sweep of Southern Illinois (7-16-1, 3-3-1) earlier today at Hammons Field. The Bears won by scores of 2-0 and 7-3.

Between Sinkbeil and Marsala the two struck out a combined 20 Saluki batters.

In game one, Marsala extended his scoreless inning streak to 15 frames when he struck out nine batters in a 2-0 shutout.

Marsala, who fanned four of SIU's first seven hitters of the game, also allowed six hits and issued two walks in his complete game, seven-inning masterpiece.

The Bears backed up Marsala's solid effort at the plate with one run in each of the fourth and sixth innings. Interestingly enough, both of those runs were set up by doubles.

Matt Weglarz led off the fourth with a double to right center and went to third on a sacrifice by Chris Taylor. An ensuing single by pinch-hitter Adam Pummill then scored Weglarz to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

In the sixth, the bottom half of SMS' lineup struck again when Taylor delivered a one-out double to left center. Shortly after moving to third on a Toby Gardenhire grounder to short, Taylor touched home on a wild pitch by Saluki reliever Josh Joiner.

SIU had a runner on second and the tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh, but couldn't capitalize, as all three of the Salukis' outs came on grounders to SMS second baseman Jeremy Neyra..

SIU's opportunity in the seventh was one of many missed by the Dawgs, who stranded a total of eight baserunners, including at least one in six of the game's seven innings.

Marsala evened his record to 2-2 on the year, and Jason Chavez fell to 1-2 in his first start on the mound for SIU. Chavez allowed three hits and one run in 3.1 innings, while issuing two walks and posting one strikeout.

In the nightcap, Sinkbeil took over the spotlight, and as a result, baffled one SIU hitter after another. At one time, he struck out six Salukis en route to retiring 11 straight SIU batters over three innings.

Sinkbeil would receive plenty of run support from the Bears' offense, who did the most damage between the third and fifth frames.

Tied 1-1, SMS' Brooks Colvin sparked a two-out rally with a bunt single, advanced to second on a balk and scored on a single by Ryan Gotcher. Jud Kindle then accounted for the first home run at Hammons Field to push the Bears' lead to 4-1.

After back-to-back doubles by Matt Brewer and Nathan Boldt cut SMS' lead to 4-2 in the fourth, the Bears answered with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. A Colvin double scored both Kirk McConnell and Neyra to make it 6-2 in favor of the Bears.

One more run-scoring hit, this time by Neyra in the fifth, knocked in Pummill to seal what would be a 7-3 win for the Bears.

Like Marsala, Sinkbeil also moved to 2-2 on the year. He allowed seven hits and three runs to go along with a career-high 11 Ks in eight innings. Additionally, he threw a total of 137 pitches.

Marshall Tucker (1-5) suffered the loss for SIU. Tucker gave up nine hits and six runs in four innings. He also issued two walks and struck out one.

Offensively, the Bears had 18 hits on the day, including 12 in game two. Weglarz went 4-for-7 with a double and a run scored in the twin bill, while Neyra followed with three hits.

SIU was led by Nathan Boldt who went 4-for-7 with a double and one RBI. Four Salukis, including Kevin Koski, P.J. Finigan, Greg Andrews and Brewer followed with two hits apiece.

In its three games against SMS, the Salukis have struck out a total of 31 times.

The Salukis and Bears conclude their four-game series tomorrow at 1 p.m.