Southern Illinois University
10-13, 3-0
Northern Iowa
8-12, 0-3
Baseball beats Northern Iowa, 4-3, sweeps Panthers
03/22/2009 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 22, 2009
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Bryant George tied the school's all-time career record in saves and Dan Callahan recorded his 400th career victory, as Southern Illinois University (10-13, 3-0) swept Northern Iowa (8-12, 0-3) with a 4-3 win at Abe Martin Field Sunday.
George went 1-0 with two saves on the weekend en route to tying Al Levine (1990-91) for SIU's all-time career record. A native of nearby DuQuoin, George now has 19 saves in his Saluki career.
Meanwhile, Callahan won his 400th career game in 15 seasons as Southern's head coach. He is 400-403-1 as only the second head coach to register 400 or more career victories in Saluki baseball history.
And, to top it all off, SIU opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a sweep for the second time in three years after posting three, one-run wins against the Panthers.
"I was proud of the way we played this weekend," said Saluki associate head coach Ken Henderson. "We battled hard, pitched well enough to win, played good defense and got the hits we needed in crucial situations."
SIU built a 4-0 lead after scoring in four of the game's first five innings.
Chris Serritella, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, plated Michael Stalter on a two-out single in the first. Tyler Bullock then led off the second inning with a solo home run to left center. The long ball was Bullock's first of the season.
Two innings later, Wade Dutton singled, went to second on a double by Jordan Sivertsen and scored when Chris Murphy grounded out to second. Stalter singled and came around to score with the help of Mark Kelly's base hit and Serritella's sacrifice fly in the fifth.
UNI made things interesting when it pushed across three runs in the top of the seventh. Travis Bennett was hit by a pitch and James Dinizo walked. Bennett scored on Jeff Taliaferro's ensuing double to left center, before Dinizo touched home on a groundout to second. Taliaferro later scored on Cory Ege's two-out single to right, cutting SIU's lead to 4-3.
Saluki relievers David Kington, Ryan Bradley and George took over to retire six of seven Panther hitters in the last two innings. George pitched a perfect ninth to get his team and MVC-leading fourth save in 12 appearances.
Righthander Andrew Dunn (4-2) was credited with the win after giving up six hits, striking out two and walking one in six scoreless innings. SIU had gone 13-straight games without a win from its starting pitcher prior to today. Dunn leads the Salukis with four wins on the year.
Righthander Carlos Pinedo (1-3) took the fall for UNI. Pinedo worked four innings, giving up six hits and four runs, while walking one and striking out two.
Offensively, SIU outhit UNI, 11-8. Stalter (2), Kelly (2), Serritella (2) and Sivertsen (2) combined for all but three of the hits.
Deric Manrique went 3-for-4 to lead UNI.
Defensively, SIU went without an error in its last two games of the series. The Salukis also turned six double plays against the Panthers over that span.
SIU hosts Arkansas State on Wednesday at 3 p.m., CT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dunn, Andrew (4-2)
L: Pinedo, Carlos (1-3)
S: George, Bryant (4)
Batting:
2B: Taliaferro, Jeff 1
RBI: Taliaferro, Jeff 1 ; Steichen, Andy 1 ; Ege, Cory 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bennett, Travis 1 ; Dinizo, James 1 ; Taliaferro, Jeff 1
SB: Manrique, Deric 1
CS: Ege, Cory 1
HBP: Summers, Jason 1 ; Bennett, Travis 1
PO: Manrique, Deric 1
Batting:
2B: Sivertsen, Jordan 1
HR: Bullock, Tyler 1
RBI: Murphy, Chris 1 ; Serritella, Chris 2 ; Bullock, Tyler 1
SH: Murphy, Chris 1
SF: Serritella, Chris 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Stalter, Michael 2 ; Bullock, Tyler 1 ; Dutton, Wade 1
CS: Kelly, Mark 1
