Southern Illinois University
Wichita St.
Baseball Downs Wichita State, 5-1
05/07/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 7, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - P.J. Finigan allowed two hits and struck out six in a complete game gem to lead Southern Illinois (30-18, 12-8) to a 5-1 win over Wichita State (39-17, 12-5) earlier today in front of a crowd of 1,400 at Abe Martin Field.
The win, which marked number 30 for SIU this season, gave head coach Dan Callahan his third 30-win campaign in four years.
Finigan simply continues to dominate on the mound, and you can pretty much take your pick as to what part of his sparkling performance stood out most.
A native of Springfield, Ill., Finigan set the tone early by retiring seven of his first eight. He faced a two-out bases loaded jam as part of a 25-pitch third inning, but beared down to get the Shockers' leading home run threat, Joe Muich, to fly out to right.
Of the 10 Shockers who reached base against Finigan, only three made it past second. In addition, the only run, which kept Finigan from a shutout came unearned in the sixth, where Muich reached on an error and scored when Damon Sublett grounded out to second.
Anymore, when Finigan takes the mound, everything seems to come together for the Dawgs, who despite committing three errors, played some outstanding defense down the stretch.
Namely, at second base and in center field, where Ryan Hypke had seven assists in the last four innings, and Koski robbed Sublett of a potential extra-base hit when he tracked down a fly ball in the gap in right center.
Throw in the fact that SIU's offense, who hasn't had much success against WSU starter Jereme Foster in the past, knocked Foster out of the game after registering nine hits and four runs in 2.1 innings. It was indeed a solid all-around win for the Dawgs.
"It's definitely a team effort, and both the offense and defense played great. You can't ask for anything more," said Finigan.
SIU stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the first, where Koski led off with a double down the right field line. After Finigan moved Koski to second on a sacrifice bunt, three straight one-out hits by Nathan Emrick (RBI), Hunter Harrigan and Dean Cademartori (RBI) followed.
The Salukis would then add another run in the second, third and eighth to finish off the Shockers.
Hypke led off the second with a single to center and scored when Koski tripled in nearly the exact same spot where he doubled in his previous at-bat.
Cademartori ripped a one-out single to left and scored with the help of back-to-back singles by Matt Brewer and Ryan Enata in the third.
In the eighth, Brewer singled to center, went to second on another hit by Enata, advanced to third on Hypke's sacrifice bunt and scored on Tyler Lairson's sacrifice fly.
Koski's hits in the first and second innings were not only big momentum builders for the Dawgs, but they also kept his hitting streak alive at 24 games.
"I don't think about it much at all," said Koski in regards to his hitting streak. "I'm not out there trying to hit home runs, but instead, I'm focusing on hitting balls hard and putting pressure on the other team's defense."
Koski, who finished at 2-for-5 with a run scored, double, triple and RBI, was one of five Salukis who collected two hits on the day. Emrick (2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI), Cademartori (2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI), Brewer (2-for-4, 1 R) and Enata (2-for-4) were the others.
Meanwhile, Finigan (7-2) went the distance for his fourth complete game win of the season. His seven wins lead the team. Finigan also upped his hitting streak to 16 games at the plate.
Foster dropped to 5-4 on the year.
Offensively, Phil Napolitan and Kenny Waddell posted the only hits against Finigan.
SIU's win against WSU today was also witnessed by several members of the 1990 Saluki Baseball team, who returned to campus for their 15-year reunion this weekend.
The 1990 Salukis, who were coached by Itch Jones, won both the Missouri Valley Conference's regular-season and tournament titles, while advancing to the Stanford West I Regional.
Bob Geary, one of the players on that team, said it was great to see a Saluki win.
"Today brought back a lot of good memories," Geary said. "It was a perfect day in Carbondale - good weather, good crowd and a Saluki victory."
SIU and WSU wrap up their series tomorrow at 1 p.m. Bryan Rueger (6-3) will take the mound for the Dawgs.
