Southern Illinois University
22-26, 10-9
Evansville
25-29, 7-16
Baseball downs Evansville, 11-7
05/15/2009 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 15, 2009
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Southern Illinois University (22-26, 10-9) used four home runs, including two by Tyler Bullock, to propel an 11-7 win over Evansville (25-29, 7-16) Friday at Braun Stadium.
SIU, which last hit four home runs in a game against UE in Carbondale on April 11, 2004, never trailed. The Salukis scored three runs in each of the second, sixth and seventh innings, and twice in the third en route to their seventh win in eight Missouri Valley Conference games.
The Salukis jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second inning when Michael Stalter led off with a single, went to second on a double by Chris Serritella and scored on Aaron Roberts' groundout to second. Bullock came to the plate next and slugged a two-run home run to right, giving SIU a 3-0 lead.
SIU added two more runs by way of Mark Kelly's one-out homer in the third. The round-tripper was Kelly's first since April 14 (at SE Missouri State).
Left-hander Jimmy Cornell had a one-hit shutout through four innings, but UE started chipping away at the Saluki lead in the fifth.
Nate Smith walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jim Viscomi. Viscomi, after going to third on a double by Cody Fick, touched home on Greg Wallace's grounder to third. Tom Heithoff knocked in Fick on a two-out double to right to cut SIU's lead to 5-3. After that, right-hander Nathan Forer relieved Cornell and got Andy Smith to fly out to right to end the inning.
SIU, however, answered by tacking on another three tallies in the sixth. Bullock and Jordan Sivertsen launched back-to-back home runs, before Tony Lepore tripled with one out. Chris Murphy followed with a sacrifice fly and Lepore scored to give SIU an 8-3 advantage.
SIU and UE then scored three runs apiece in the seventh inning.
After Serritella, Roberts and Bullock scored for the Dawgs in the top half of the inning, the Purple Aces homered twice off Forer to push across their runs. Fick delivered a solo shot to center with one out and Heithoff slammed a two-run bomb over the wall in left center to cut SIU's lead to 11-6.
Left-handed reliever Daniel Wells, who hadn't pitched since April 25, hit two batters, threw two wild pitches and balked after replacing Forer in the eighth. As a result, Smith scored UE's final run.
Moments after Wells plunked Viscomi, right-hander Kellen Candau took the mound and ended the Purple Aces threat when he forced Fick to hit into a double play. Candau, who last took the mound on April 17, allowed only one hit and struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings.
Forer (1-7) picked up the first win of his Saluki career after giving up two hits and three runs in 2.1 innings. He also struck out two and walked two.
Kapteyn (2-10), who leads the Valley in losses, allowed seven runs on nine hits, walked three and struck out two in 5.1 innings.
Offensively, SIU pounded out 14 hits. Bullock went 2-for-2 with three runs, two home runs and three RBI. Bullock, who has a team-high 10 home runs on the year, became the first Saluki to get 10 homers in a season since Toby Barnett and Sal Frisella did it in 2003. Eight of Bullock's home runs have come in league play this season.
Murphy, Kelly, Stalter, Serritella and Lepore finished with two hits on the day, as well.
UE registered seven hits, with Viscomi, Fick and Heithoff paving the way with two apiece.
With today's win, SIU assured itself of at least a five-seed in the MVC Tournament which will be played on May 20-23 in Wichita, Kan. In addition, the Salukis earned their third-straight series win in the Valley.
SIU and UE wrap up the regular-season at 1 p.m., CT, Saturday. Right-handers Andrew Dunn (6-4, 2.31 ERA) and Keegan Dennis (2-4, 7.06 ERA) will start on the mound.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Forer, Nathan (1-7)
L: Kapteyn (2-10)
Batting:
2B: Murphy, Chris 1 ; Serritella, Chris 1
3B: Lepore, Tony 1
HR: Kelly, Mark 1 ; Bullock, Tyler 2 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 1
RBI: Murphy, Chris 2 ; Kelly, Mark 2 ; Roberts, Aaron 1 ; Bullock, Tyler 3 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 2 ; Lepore, Tony 1
SF: Murphy, Chris 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Elmendorf, Scott 1 ; Kelly, Mark 1 ; Stalter, Michael 1 ; Serritella, Chris 2 ; Roberts, Aaron 1 ; Bullock, Tyler 3 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 1 ; Lepore, Tony 1
CS: Murphy, Chris 1
HBP: Sivertsen, Jordan 1
PO: Bullock, Tyler 1
Batting:
2B: Fick, Cody 1 ; Heithoff, Tom 1
HR: Fick, Cody 1 ; Heithoff, Tom 1
RBI: Viscomi 1 ; Fick, Cody 1 ; Pascoe, Andy 1 ; Heithoff, Tom 3
SH: Viscomi 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Viscomi 1 ; Fick, Cody 2 ; Major, Matt 1 ; Heithoff, Tom 1 ; Smith, Nate 1 ; Legan, Ty 1
HBP: Viscomi 1 ; Wallace, Greg 1 ; Legan, Ty 1
