Southern Illinois University
22-28-1
Milwaukee
22-27
Baseball Wins Series Finale Against UW-Milwaukee, 9-8
05/16/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 16, 2004
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Freshman Kevin Koski delivered a one-out game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift Southern Illinois (22-28-1) to a 9-8 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (22-27) earlier today at Abe Martin Field.
SIU, who won the three-game series, 2-1, posted its second win in extra innings this season.
Lutz drew a lead off walk to start the Saluki 10th and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by P.J. Finigan. Koski then ripped a single to left and Lutz scored to give the Dawgs the win.
Prior to going extra innings with the Panthers, SIU held a 4-0 lead after the first four innings of the game.
The Salukis immediately went to work on UWM starter Korey Keller in the top of the first. Keller, who threw just 17 pitches in the inning, was touched for four hits and two runs.
Finigan led off with a double down the left field line and quickly scored on an ensuing double by Koski. After Koski moved to third on a sacrifice by Nathan Emrick, he scored on a one-out single by Andrews.
Cory Newman, who reached on an error, stole two bases and touched home on a sacrifice fly by Finigan, gave SIU another run in the second, before Andrews reached on a lead off double, went to third on a Grant Gerrard single and scored on an error by Panther second baseman Charlie Reschke in the third.
Although falling behind 4-0, UWM once again rallied in the middle innings. After scoring one run in the fifth, the Panthers scored four runs on four hits in the sixth to take a 5-4 lead.
Brooks Graff led things off with a single and went to second on a one-out hit by Reschke. Moments after Ben Stanczyk scored Graff on a base knock to right, Joe Nowicki lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Stanczyk. Ross McCoy then capped things off with a two-out, two-run homer to left.
SIU, however, regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, where Newman reached on a one-out triple and scored when Lutz singled on the next play. Finigan followed Lutz's RBI-single with a two-run home run of his own, and just like that, the Salukis were back on top, 7-5. For Finigan, the round-tripper marked his second of the season.
The back-and-forth battle continued in the eighth which saw UWM use a double, a walk a single and a Saluki error to score three more runs and win back a 8-7 edge.
But that lead was short-lived as well, when SIU tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Newman drew a lead off walk, went to second on a passed ball, took third on a bunt single by Lutz and scored on a sacrifice fly by Finigan to tie the game at 8-8.
After SIU stranded two runners in the bottom of the ninth, Saluki relief right-hander Andrew Weber gave up back-to-back singles and threw a wild pitch to give UWM runners at second and third at the start of the 10th. Despite the early-inning struggle, Weber settled down and struck out both McCoy and Rivera, while getting Nicholas Wichser to fly out to center to end the threat.
Weber, who moved to 5-1 on the year, struck out three batters, allowed one run and gave up five hits in three innings. His three-inning outing tied a season-high, as he also worked three frames vs. Penn State on Mar. 7.
Right-hander Jason Chavez started on the mound for SIU. Chavez gave up five runs and eight hits, while striking out two in 5.2 innings.
Jed Dolske (3-5) suffered the loss for UWM. He issued three walks and gave up the game-winning hit in 1.1 innings.
Finigan had a busy day at the plate, where he went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a double, a home run, two sacrifice flies, three runs scored and four RBI. Koski and Andrews also paced the Dawgs with three hits each. Koski was 3-for-6 with a double, one run scored and two RBI, while Andrews went 3-for-4 with a double, one run scored and one RBI.
Lutz also had at least two hits for the Salukis.
UWM, who out-hit SIU, 15-13, was led by Reschke and Nowicki. Both had three hits each. The Panthers also committed three errors on the day.
SIU wraps up its 2004 regular season on the road. The Salukis will first head to Champaign to take on Illinois on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., before concluding the year with a four-game series at Northern Iowa, May 20-22. That four-game series opens on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Weber, Andrew (5-1)
L: Jed Dolske (3-5)
Batting:
2B: Charlie Reschke 1 ; Joe Nowicki 1
HR: Ross McCoy 1
RBI: Ben Stanczyk 1 ; Joe Nowicki 2 ; Ross McCoy 2
SF: Joe Nowicki 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brooks Graff 1 ; Charlie Reschke 2 ; Ben Stanczyk 2 ; Joe Nowicki 1 ; Ross McCoy 2
CS: Nicholas Wichser 1
Batting:
2B: Finigan, P.J. 1 ; Koski, Kevin 1 ; Andrews, Greg 1
3B: Newman, Cory 1
HR: Finigan, P.J. 1
RBI: Finigan, P.J. 4 ; Koski, Kevin 2 ; Andrews, Greg 1 ; Lutz, Brendan 1
SH: Finigan, P.J. 1 ; Emrick, Nathan 1 ; Boldt, Nathan 1
SF: Finigan, P.J. 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Finigan, P.J. 2 ; Koski, Kevin 1 ; Andrews, Greg 1 ; Newman, Cory 3 ; Lutz, Brendan 2
SB: Koski, Kevin 1 ; Newman, Cory 2 ; Lutz, Brendan 1
CS: Koski, Kevin 1
