Baseball Pounds Illinois State, 10-1

Saturday, May 1

Normal, Ill.

1:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

16-24-1, 10-11-1

Illinois State

15-24, 6-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	4	0	1	0	3	2	0	0	0	10	14	1
Illinois State	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	3

05/01/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

May 1, 2004

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

NORMAL, Ill. - Southern Illinois (16-24-1, 10-11-1) scored eight unearned runs and all but one of its tallies came during two-out situations in a 10-1 win over Illinois State (15-24, 6-12) earlier today at Redbird Field. The Redbirds committed three errors on the day and were limited to five hits thanks to a magnificent complete game by Josh Joiner.

A native of nearby Jonesboro, Ill., Joiner struck out a career-high 10 batters and registered the most strikeouts in a game by any Saluki pitcher this season. He also retired nine straight Redbird hitters between the third and sixth innings, and struck out the side in the fourth.

Aside of Joiner's sparkling performance on the mound, what hurt ISU even more was a huge defensive breakdown.

ISU had a costly blunder which led to four Saluki runs with two outs in the top of the first. Redbird starting right-hander Josh Kauten came out strong by retiring SIU's first two batters, as Kevin Koski flew out to left on the first pitch of the game and P.J. Finigan struck out.

Shortly after Finigan whiffed, things suddenly went bad for Kauten.

Back-to-back singles by Nathan Emrick and Nathan Boldt were followed by a Nick Baughman walk which loaded the bases. Greg Andrews then hit a high pop up to Kauten. With the ball drifting into the wind and the infield converging, Kauten went to his left and collided with second baseman Chris Shepherd. The ball was in Kauten's glove momentarily, but came out on the collision which scored Emrick and Boldt and moved Andrews to second. An ensuing two-RBI single by Matt Brewer would then plate Baughman and Andrews to give the Dawgs a 4-0 unearned lead.

ISU answered with an unearned run of its own in the bottom of the first, where Nate Whitney singled, stole second, went to third on a grounder by Jay Molina and touched home on a passed ball by Brendan Lutz. For Lutz, the passed ball marked his 13th of the season.

Ahead 4-1, SIU added to its lead in the top of the third. Boldt reached on an error by third baseman Luke Baughman. Luke's brother, Nick, was hit by a pitch shortly after that and Andrews hit a bunt single to pack the bases with no outs. Newman's one-out sacrifice fly would then knock in Boldt to push the Salukis' lead to 5-1.

The Redbirds continued to struggle defensively in the fifth, as another error by Baughman led to three more unearned runs. Coincidentally, Luke's brother Nick, reached on the miscue and went to second on a single by Brewer. With two outs after Newman flied out to center, nine-hole hitter Lutz singled home Brewer, and Finigan followed with a two-RBI hit to make it 8-1, in favor of the Dawgs.

SIU did more damage with two outs in the sixth, where Andrews sparked a rally with a single and went to second on a Brewer walk. Andrews and Brewer each came home on a two-RBI double by Newman to put the game on ice.

Joiner (1-2) not only posted his well-deserved first win of the season, but he threw his first career complete game. The longest Joiner went prior to today was 8.2 innings vs. Murray State on Apr. 25, 2001. He allowed five hits and one run, while striking out nine batters and issuing two walks. Additionally, his 10 Ks surpassed his previous career total of six which was done on three occasions with the last being at nationally-ranked Florida Atlantic on Feb. 13.

Kauten remained winless on the year and fell to 0-6. He gave up nine hits and eight runs to go along with five strikeouts in five frames. None of Kauten's runs were earned.

Offensively, several Salukis had multiple-hits to lead a balanced 14-hit attack. Finigan, Emrick, Andrews, Brewer and Newman all had two hits apiece, while Koski, Boldt, Lutz and Ben Hoffman followed with one. Hoffman's hit marked his first of the season and second of his career.

Whitney went 2-for-3 and scored the Redbirds' only run to lead ISU.

Due to the threat of inclement weather, both SIU and ISU played one nine-inning game today. The two teams will conclude the four-game series with a noon doubleheader tomorrow. Game one will be seven innings, while the nightcap will be nine. Right-hander Jason Chavez is scheduled to start the seven-inning matchup and right-hander Marshall Tucker will take the mound in game two.