Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
8-19
Murray State
12-15
Baseball shuts out Murray State, 9-0
04/06/2011 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 6, 2011
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois hit three home runs and got six shutout innings from senior pitcher Andrew Bever in a 9-0 victory over Murray State Wednesday at Abe Martin Field.
Southern Illinois (8-19) scored seven of its nine runs in the game off of extra-base hits. Southern's three home runs are the most in a game this year and it is just the second time the Salukis have had a multi-home run game.
"We did a good job getting the early lead and then holding it," interim head coach Ken Henderson said. "Bever did a great job throwing strikes and the defense was outstanding today."
Bever allowed just four hits in his six innings of work and had two strikeouts with two walks. He improved to 2-2 on the year with the victory while Thoroughbred starter Curran McNeely drew the loss in his first career start.
Murray State (12-15) finished with six hits in the game, which is the second fewest the Salukis have allowed this year. This was also Southern's second shutout of the season.
Jordan Sivertsen, Austin Montgomery and Blake Pinnon all went yard. Pinnon finished with a season-high three RBIs and was the only Saluki with two hits in the game, although every batter but one in the order had a hit Wednesday. SIU posted 10 hits in the game.
Sivertsen's towering two-run homer in the second sparked a five-run inning for the Salukis. Chris Murphy added a two-run triple and he scored for the fifth run in the frame on a Thoroughbred error.
Pinnon hit SIU's second homer in the third inning, another two-run shot with two outs to give the Salukis seven runs off of five hits in the early going.
Montgomery added SIU's third home run of the game with a shot to left-center to lead off the fifth. Pinnon later singled in Sivertsen before the fifth came to an end.
Bever meanwhile found a grove and worked around the only trouble he faced in the third. A walk and hit batsman followed by a single loaded the bases up for Murray State, but Bever struck out Jacob Rhodes to end the inning and keep the `Breds off the scoreboard. He exited after the sixth inning with a 9-0 lead.
SIU used three relievers - Bryan Waldrop, Peter Slavonic and Brian Monette - to throw the final three innings and preserve the shutout.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bever, Andrew (2-2)
L: McNEELY, Curran (0-1)
Batting:
2B: NOONAN, Zach 1
Base Running:
CS: ELLIOTT, Brandon 1
HBP: FUSON, Clay 1 ; FREY, Elliot 1
Batting:
3B: Murphy, Chris 1
HR: Montgomery, Austin 1 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 1 ; Pinnon, Blake 1
RBI: Murphy, Chris 2 ; Montgomery, Austin 1 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 2 ; Pinnon, Blake 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Murphy, Chris 1 ; Montgomery, Austin 1 ; Harding, Brock 1 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 2 ; Johnson, Nick 1 ; Pinnon, Blake 1 ; Welch, Jake 1 ; Bajer, Brian 1
HBP: Murphy, Chris 1 ; Rallo, Derek 1 ; Johnson, Nick 1
