Baseball falls at Indiana State in series opener

Thursday, May 19

Terre Haute, Ind.

6:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

20-32, 9-10

Indiana State

26-24, 8-11

Southern Illinois

Indiana State

05/19/2011 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

May 19, 2011

By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com

Box Score

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Southern Illinois stranded six runners on base in the first four innings and the missed opportunities early in the game cost them in a 4-1 loss at Indiana State Thursday night at Bob Warn Field.

The Sycamores handed Saluki pitcher Cody Forsythe (8-4) his first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season, ending his six-game winning streak.

Forsythe gave up a season-high 11 hits and the four runs, which were all earned and that is the most earned runs he's allowed since giving up four against Jacksonville State back on March 12. Forsythe threw seven innings in the loss with two strikeouts and no walks.

Southern Illinois drops to 20-32 overall and 9-10 in the MVC. Indiana State improves to 26-24 and 8-11 in the Valley.

SIU had its chances early with seven hits through the first four innings, but got just one run.

After the early trouble, Indiana State pitcher Colin Rea settled in and allowed just one hit from the fifth through the seventh. He lasted those seven innings, striking out two with no walks and he yielded the one run. Rea improved to 7-4 on the year in his 14th start.

SIU finished with nine hits and eight left on-base. Designated hitter Austin Montgomery was 3-for-4 and had two doubles for the first time in his career. Wes Neece and Dustin Huff both went 2-for-4 in the game.

Koby Kraemer went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and hit one of two Sycamore solo home runs off of Forsythe to lead Indiana State.

Neece, who had no RBIs in 12 games from April 22 through May 14, drove in a run for the third-straight game with his second inning single up the middle that scored Blake Pinnon from second. Pinnon got to second with his two-out double to right-center before Neece came to the plate.

Kraemer hit a line-drive solo home run that just cleared the wall down the left-field line in the bottom of the fourth, which was the first Valley home run that Forsythe has allowed this season. The Sycamore got three hits in that inning, but just the one run to tie the game.

Jeremy Lucas gave Indiana State a 2-1 lead with his two-out solo shot off Forsythe in the sixth.

Kyle Burnam and Kraemer had back-to-back RBI singles in the seventh to push the Sycamore lead up to 4-1. Forsythe was pulled after that inning and the Salukis couldn't pick him up with any more runs, as SIU dropped the series opener.