Baseball falls 5-3 in game two at Arkansas State

Saturday, February 20

Jonesboro, Ark.

12:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

0-2

Arkansas St.

2-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	9	2
Arkansas State	2	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	5	12	0

02/20/2010 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 20, 2010

By Jason Clay
www.SIUSalukis.com

Box Score

JONESBORO, Ark. - Jordan Sivertsen's three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning was not enough to bring the Southern Illinois baseball team back from a five-run deficit, as the Salukis fell, 5-3, in game two of the series Saturday against Arkansas State at Tomlinson field.

The Salukis had six hits through the first eight innings, but only one of them left the infield. SIU's bats woke up in the ninth when Tyler Bullock led off with a single and then Michael Stalter doubled off the wall in right field. That brought up Sivertsen and he drove a ball over the left-field wall, cutting the deficit down to two with no outs.

However, Wes Dagestad retired the next three Salukis to preserve the win for the Red Wolves. ASU right-hander Ross Humes earned the victory, as he threw five innings with five strikeouts and gave up just two hits.

"I was pleased with the way we came back and got within two runs, but again, we placed ourselves in a hole," head coach Dan Callahan said. "Humes did a good job with us today. He kept us off balance and pitched very well."

SIU junior center fielder Chris Murphy had two hits for the second-straight day. He went 2-for-4, as did Stalter and senior right fielder Aaron Roberts. The Dawgs had nine hits in all and two costly errors.

The Salukis used a pair of true freshman pitchers to get them through the first seven innings. Right-hander Lee Weld drew the start and lasted two and two-thirds. He gave up four runs, but only two were earned. Weld allowed six hits and struck out four with two walks as he recorded the loss.

Left-hander Cody Forsythe came in with two outs in the third and threw 4.1 innings, where he gave up just one run and four hits. Senior Bryant George threw the eighth inning for the Dawgs, which was his 70th career appearance. That ties Tyler Norrick (2003-06) for the fifth-most appearances in school history.

"I was very pleased with our two freshman pitchers," Callahan said. "They did a good job battling through adversity. For their first times out, I thought that they were pretty composed and the score is not indicative of their worth in the game."

Much like they did on Friday, the Red Wolves jumped on the Salukis early. ASU scored two runs in each of the first two innings, but it could have been more as they stranded five on base.

After a pair of infield singles in the third, the Red Wolves threatened again. Weld got two out before SIU brought in Forsythe, who got Logan Uxa to strikeout with runners on second and third.

Arkansas State added another run in the fifth. Michael Faulkner was attempting to bunt over Kyle DeGrace from second. Forsythe fielded and threw to first, but Faulkner hit the glove of Brock Harding as he was reaching the bag and knocked the ball free. That allowed DeGrace to come home for the fifth run of the game.

Southern Illinois only had two infield hits through five innings, but Murphy was the first to hit a ball safely out of the infield in the sixth. Aaron Roberts followed with SIU's third infield single, but the Salukis were unable to bring home either base runner.

The game remained quiet until the top of the ninth. Bullock led off with a single to right and Stalter followed with a double off the left-field wall. Then Sivertsen put a shot over the wall, right at the same spot where Stalter's double hit. That made it a 5-3 game, but SIU could not get another hit and ended up falling by that score.

The final game of the series is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.