Baseball drops heartbreaker to NIU, 9-4

Saturday, March 17

Carbondale, Ill.

2:30 PM

Southern Illinois University

12-7

Northern Illinois

3-16

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Illinois	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	9	6	1
Southern Illinois	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	4	10	4

03/17/2012 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

March 17, 2012

Box Score | Photo Gallery

By Scott Gierman
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois allowed eight runs in the final two innings to give Northern Illinois a 9-4 win Saturday afternoon at Abe Martin Field. Only four of the final eight runs were earned as SIU (12-7) committed three errors in the final two frames and suffered its second consecutive loss.

The Salukis held a 3-1 lead with NIU batting with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning. Reliever Tyler Dray induced a ground ball to first base, which Chris Serritella flipped to Dray as he raced to cover the base, but the ball bounced off Dray's glove and allowed two runs to score, tying the game at 3-3.

The Huskies took the lead two batters later when the bases were loaded again, and Connor Duckhorn hit a slow roller to Serritella, which he booted, allowing Alex Jones to score from third base. Dray took the loss, his first of the season.

"Those were routine plays, and it's been that way all year," SIU Coach Ken Henderson said. "None of them are tough plays. It's two weak routine ground balls to first base. If we make either play, we probably come back and win the ballgame."

All thoughts of an SIU comeback were erased in the ninth inning as the nightmare continued. Dray allowed the first two Huskies to reach to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt, Dray intentionally walked Alex Klonowski to load the bases with one out. However, Dray hit the next two batters to extend NIU's lead to 6-3. He left with the bases loaded, and all three runners he left on base scored in the inning.

Southern Illinois has committed 48 errors in 18 games, an average of more than 2.5 per game.

"Right now the problem is we expect something bad to happen," Henderson said. "We get in those situations in close ballgames, and defensively we expect something bad to happen. We're sitting around saying, when's it going to happen, and that's the best way for it to happen. It's not physical. It's mental, and until we clean it up mentally and expect good things to happen, it's going to continue to happen."

Southern's offense had plenty of missed opportunities while leading throughout the game to put the game out of reach. The Salukis stranded 12 runners and left at least one runner on base in every inning from the fourth inning on.

"We struck out three times with a runner at third and one out," Henderson said. "That's three easy runs. All you have to do is make contact. We messed up two sac bunt situations where we didn't get runners into scoring positions so that's five runs we left out there."

The late inning collapse wasted a great performance from SIU starter Sam Coonrod. In his second collegiate start, the freshman allowed just one run off two hits and struck out seven in six innings of work. He lowered his season ERA to 1.89 but took the no-decision.

"Coonrod was outstanding," Henderson said. "I'd take that effort from him every time. He competes. His makeup is off the charts. He wants the ball. He battles. We have to get some other guys to compete as hard as he does. He was outstanding. He's going to be a good one. He is going to be outstanding some day. If he doesn't change, if he continues the same demeanor and keeps battling, he's going to be awfully special."

The Salukis will finish the weekend with 2:30 p.m. game against Illinois Sunday at Rent One Park in Marion, Ill. Marion native Nathan Dorris is the scheduled starter for Southern Illinois.