Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
13-9, 1-0
Northern Iowa
9-10, 0-1
Baseball Wins League Opener Over Northern Iowa, 7-3
03/25/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 25, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Tyler Norrick tied a career-high seven strikeouts, while P.J. Finigan and Matt Brewer hit back-to-back home runs to help lift Southern Illinois (13-9, 1-0) to a 7-3 win over Northern Iowa (9-10, 0-1) earlier today in both teams' Missouri Valley Conference opener at Abe Martin Field.
Norrick, who improved to 2-0 on the year, picked up the win after working four innings of no-decisions in his previous two starts.
A native of Festus, Mo., he set the tone early by limiting the Panthers to one run on three hits in his first five innings, four of which were scoreless.
Norrick also did an excellent job of keeping UNI hitters off balance, as evidenced in the fourth and fifth innings, where he caught five of six Panthers looking on strikes.
After giving Norrick a 2-1 lead in the third, SIU's offense went to work again in the fourth, where it gave the Dawgs a three-run cushion.
Brendan Lutz and Dean Cademartori each singled to start things off. A Tyler Lairson SAC-bunt moved the runners, before Kevin Koski walked to load the bases.
Finigan drew an ensuing walk, and Lutz scored. Moments later, Cademartori scored an unearned run when Dave Westergaard misplayed Brewer's routine grounder to third.
Down by three (4-1), UNI pulled to within a run in the sixth, after a hit-by-pitch, walk and wild pitch from Norrick gave the Panthers runners at second and third with two outs. Westergaard's single to center would then knock in both runs to narrow the gap to 4-3.
After answering the rally with a run of their own in the sixth, the Salukis put the Panthers away for good when Finigan and Brewer hit consecutive bombs in the bottom of the eighth.
Both natives of Springfield, Ill., Finigan and Brewer's blasts came with one out against UNI reliever Hans Frey, as Finigan rounded the bases for his first home run of the season, and Brewer posted his third.
Today also marked the second time this season, where SIU hit back-to-back homers in a game after Brewer and Gerrard last accomplished the feat against Northern Illinois on Mar. 4.
In addition to his seven strikeouts, Norrick also scattered four hits, allowed three runs and issued three walks in six innings.
Left-hander Adam Snyder relieved Norrick in the seventh and struck out two in three scoreless innings en route to his second save of the season.
Kory Kelchen (1-1) took the fall for UNI. He gave up eight hits and four runs in 3.1 innings. He also struck out one and walked one.
SIU's 13 hits on the day surpassed its previous two-game total of 12.
Cademartori, a freshman from Norridge, Ill., paved the way by going 3-for-4 with a double and one run scored. Finigan, Brewer, Gerrard and Nathan Emrick followed with two hits each.
Westergaard went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI to lead UNI, who had five hits.
UNI and SIU resume their series tomorrow at 2 p.m. Finigan (2-1) is scheduled to take the mound for the Dawgs.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Norrick, Tyler (2-0)
L: Kelchen (1-1)
S: Snyder, Adam (2)
Batting:
2B: Westergaard 1
RBI: Guzman 1 ; Westergaard 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Guzman 1 ; Trumm 1 ; Bt. Douglas 1
SB: Bt. Douglas 1
HBP: Guzman 1 ; Norman 1
Batting:
2B: Gerrard, Grant 1 ; Cademartori, Dean 1
HR: Finigan, P.J. 1 ; Brewer, Matt 1
RBI: Finigan, P.J. 2 ; Brewer, Matt 1 ; Gerrard, Grant 1 ; Emrick, Nathan 2
SH: Lairson, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Finigan, P.J. 2 ; Brewer, Matt 3 ; Lutz, Brendan 1 ; Cademartori, Dean 1
SB: Brewer, Matt 1
