Southern Illinois University
19-13, 5-4
Bradley
18-9, 5-4
Baseball Loses to Bradley, 4-3, in 10 Innings
04/10/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 10, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
PEORIA, Ill. - Jon Smith hit a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Bradley (18-9, 5-4) a 4-3 come-from-behind series-clinching win over Southern Illinois (19-13, 5-4) earlier today at O'Brien Field.
For Smith, his game-winning hit came during his first and only at-bat of the game.
BU had runners on second and third when Smith lifted a high pop up to shallow left field. With Saluki left fielder Dean Cademartori and shortstop P.J. Finigan converging on the play, Finigan dove and appeared to have the ball in his glove.
However, when Finigan hit the ground, the ball popped out and pinch-runner Zachary Norris scored the winning run.
After six of the game's first seven baserunners walked, SIU's leadoff hitter in each of the middle innings hit safely and scored to give the Dawgs a 3-0 advantage.
Back-to-back doubles by Nathan Emrick and Dean Cademartori pushed SIU's first run across in the fourth.
Nine-hole hitter Tyler Lairson reached on a bunt single to start the fifth. After moving to second on Kevin Koski's sacrifice bunt and P.J. Finigan's fly ball out to center, Lairson scored on an error due to interference by BU third baseman Paul Rice.
Then, in the sixth, Chris McCulloch led off with a single to left and went to second on a fielding error by BU left fielder Ryan Kenny. An ensuing single by Cademartori knocked in McCulloch to extend SIU's lead to 3-0.
After being limited to one hit in five scoreless innings, the Braves loaded the bases with no outs to open the bottom of the sixth.
Rice drew a leadoff walk and was safe at second on a throwing error by McCulloch.
With Brad Canada on first and Rice at second following the fielder's choice, Peter Malinowski singled to load the bases.
Adam Snyder inherited Saluki starter Bryan Rueger's jam and gave up back-to-back RBI-singles to the first hitters he faced (Joe Napoli, Ryan Curry), as BU narrowed the gap to 3-2.
Still with no outs and Braves at every base, Snyder settled down to escape the mess when Adam Uscicki flew out to left, Ryan Eigsti struck out and Johnny Sage hit into a fielder's choice.
The Salukis then surrendered their middle inning lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Rice's bunt single plated Eigsti.
SIU managed to get a runner in scoring position, but came up empty in its at-bat in the 10th.
With BU up in the bottom half of the inning, Saluki closer Andrew Weber issued back-to-back walks.
Shortly after a sacrifice bunt gave the Braves runners at second and third, Uscicki grounded out to short for the second out, before Smith's hit ended the game.
Michael Christl (1-1) was credited with the relief win after giving up two hits and striking out three in four scoreless innings.
Weber (3-2) suffered the loss for SIU.
Offensively, BU had 12 hits on the day, as Sage, Napoli and Curry paved the way with two hits each.
Emrick and Cademartori topped the Dawgs. Emrick went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a run scored, while Cademartori finished at 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
SIU dropped its second straight conference series on the road, and hasn't won a MVC series away from home since 2003.
The Salukis return to Carbondale for a four-game homestand, beginning Tuesday when they host Eastern Illinois. First pitch is at 3 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Michael Christl (1-1)
L: Weber, Andrew (3-2)
Batting:
2B: Emrick, Nathan 2 ; Cademartori, Dean 1
RBI: Cademartori, Dean 2
SH: Koski, Kevin 1 ; Lairson, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McCulloch, Chris 1 ; Emrick, Nathan 1 ; Lairson, Tyler 1
SB: Koski, Kevin 1 ; Finigan, P.J. 1
PO: Cademartori, Dean 1
Batting:
RBI: Paul Rice 1 ; Joe Napoli 1 ; Ryan Curry 1 ; Jon Smith 1
SH: Ryan Curry 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Paul Rice 1 ; Brad Canada 1 ; Zach Norris 1 ; Brian Speilmann 1
