Shockers use 17 hits to win series opener over Baseball

Friday, April 29

Carbondale, Ill.

3:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

15-26, 6-4

Wichita State

27-18, 6-4

Wichita State

Southern Illinois

04/29/2011 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

April 29, 2011

By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com

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CARBONDALE, Ill. - Wichita State posted 17 hits and nine runs to take the series opener over the Southern Illinois baseball team, 9-6, Friday at Abe Martin Field.

Southern (15-26, 6-4 Missouri Valley Conference) has now given up 33 hits in its last two games and the 17 yielded Friday was the second most in a game all year. For the Shockers (27-18, 6-4), this was their second-highest hit tally this year.

With expected inclement weather on Sunday, the teams will play a noon doubleheader on Saturday to decide the series.

"We didn't play well and it just wasn't good baseball today," interim head coach Ken Henderson said. "We made too many mistakes from the get-go. We just didn't play like we have been playing in the past few weeks and that bothers me a little bit, but I expect us to bounce back tomorrow and be ready to go."

Saluki junior Cameron Maldonado, who was once a Shocker before transferring to Seward County Community College and now SIU, drew the loss Friday to fall to 3-6. He gave up 11 hits and six runs (four earned) in 4.2 innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

Wichita State left-hander Charlie Lowell improved to 8-4 with a 10 strikeout performance. SIU had 12 total strikeouts in the game, which was one more than it had on Tuesday in a loss at Southeast Missouri State.

Southern Illinois had 11 hits and three were by senior center fielder Chris Murphy. Murphy was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two walks, two runs scored and one driven in.

Shocker catcher Chris O'Brien drove in three runs off of two hits and right fielder Don Lambert had three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Two Saluki errors and a triple from Tyler Coughenour to lead off the second inning led to three runs for the Shockers. However, SIU was able to come back with four runs of its own in the bottom half of the second thanks to two Wichita State errors.

SIU catcher Dustin Huff, who came into the day batting .159 with just three RBIs, got two runs back for the Dawgs with his double that landed just inside the right-field line.

Murphy followed with a single to score Huff from second. On the play, Wichita State threw home in an attempt to get Huff out at the plate. He scored, but O'Brien cut the ball off in front of the plate and threw to second to try to get Murphy out.

His throw sailed into center, allowing Murphy to come home to score on a strange play and it gave SIU the 4-3 lead.

Wichita State used four-straight singles in the fourth to tack on three more runs and recapture the lead, 6-4.

That lead then went up to 8-4 in the seventh thanks to an RBI infield single from Kevin Hall and a sacrifice fly from O'Brien.

Austin Montgomery's two-run single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh cut that lead down by two.

However, Lambert's two-out RBI single in the eighth gave Wichita State a three-run cushion that carried the Shockers to the series-opening victory.