Middle Tennessee hammers Baseball, 17-4
03/02/2010 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 2, 2010
By Jason Clay
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois first baseman Chris Serritella homered for the third time in four games, but Middle Tennessee belted four homers of its own to hammer the Salukis, 17-4, Tuesday in the home opener at Abe Martin Field.
Second baseman Justin Miller hit three solo home runs for the Blue Raiders and Will Skinner had the fourth, which was a grand slam in the sixth. Middle Tennessee had 20 hits in the game off the five different Saluki pitchers that were used.
Senior left-handed pitcher Ryan Bradley got the loss (0-1), as he gave up seven hits and five runs in three and two-thirds of an inning. Bradley did strikeout six batters and freshman Austin Johnson, who came in during the seventh inning, added five strikeouts of his own.
Middle Tennessee true freshman Hunter Adkins, making his first career appearance, picked up the win for the Blue Raiders. He lasted six innings and only gave up three hits and two runs, one of which was unearned. Southern Illinois finished the game with just six hits.
"I felt pretty good about our team when we left Alabama on Sunday," head coach Dan Callahan said. "That didn't make my concerns for our pitching go away, but I think we'll score some runs and I think we have some power. I don't think our offense is going to be an issue, but today was a completely different story and their pitcher did a pretty good job in his first career start. This was a bad all-around game."
Bradley walked two batters in the top of the first inning and gave up a RBI single to Blake McDade. Serritella got that run back for the Salukis in the bottom half of the inning on his solo homer to right-center. He finished the game going 1-for-2 at the plate with a walk.
Middle Tennessee added two runs in the second off of three hits, but Bradley settled in during the third and struck out the side. The Blue Raiders jumped back on him in the fourth to score three more runs off of three hits and a Saluki error.
Miller accounted for one of the runs in the fourth as he hit a solo shot to center. He came up again in the fifth and added on another run for Middle Tennessee with yet another solo homer.
The Blue Raiders then blew the game out of reach with five more runs in the top of the sixth, three in the seventh and one apiece in the eighth and ninth innings.
Southern Illinois looks to avenge Tuesday's tough outing, as they host the Blue Raiders again at 2 p.m. at Abe Martin Field.
