Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
12-8
Illinois
10-7
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 16 | 2 |
| Southern Illinois | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
Illinois hands Baseball its third straight loss
03/18/2012 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
March 18, 2012
By Scott Gierman
SIUSalukis.com
MARION, Ill. - Southern Illinois dropped its third game in a row with a 13-5 loss to Illinois Sunday afternoon at Rent One Park. The Fighting Illini (10-7) scored five runs in the third inning to take a 5-1 lead over the Salukis (12-8) and never looked back.
Illinois' Brandon Hohl was the offensive star of the game. His three-run home run opened the scoring for Illinois in the third inning. He hit another three-run blast in the eighth inning, which extended the lead to 11-3 and effectively ended any thoughts of an SIU comeback.
All four pitchers used by SIU allowed at least one run as the Illini offense racked up 16 hits. The 13 runs were one shy of matching the Salukis season mark for most runs allowed in a game.
"They're a great club," SIU Coach Ken Henderson said. "You have to tip your hat to them. Their hitters have good approaches. They didn't try to do too much. They put barrels on balls so you have to pitch well to beat them, and we just didn't pitch well enough today."
Pitching in his hometown, SIU starter Nathan Dorris had his shortest outing in his first year with the Dawgs. He surrendered seven runs, six of them earned, in four and a third innings to take his first loss after winning each of his previous four starts to begin the season.
"We just didn't pitch really well," Henderson said. "Nathan wasn't nearly as sharp as he's been and didn't have great feel. He left too many balls up in the zone."
After the five-run outburst in the fifth, Dorris rebounded to retire the side in order in the fourth. However, he appeared to run out of steam in the fifth inning when he gave up two more runs. Dorris struck out Justin Parr to begin the inning, then allowed three consecutive singles followed by a hit batsman and a bases loaded walk before departing the game with SIU trailing 7-1.
Dorris' former high school teammate, Austin Montgomery, gave the Salukis a bit of hope with his third home runs of the season, a two-run shot that cut the deficit to 8-3 in the sixth inning. However, the Dawgs couldn't climb any closer, failing to score with the bases loaded, one out and the middle of the order at the plate in the seventh inning.
"(The hitters) thought they had to do too much instead of just chipping away," Henderson said, "and there were just too many strikeouts. We had many opportunities and just gave too many ABs away. Once we regrouped a little bit, it took us a few innings, but we started getting better ABs, but we still had some chances that we let get away from us. We just didn't battle well enough at the plate."
Illinois' Josh Ferry had more than enough run support to take home his first win of the year. After allowing a run off two hits and three walks in the first two innings, he retired 10 batters in a row. He allowed a total of three runs off five hits and left with one out in the seventh inning.
The game turned into a blowout late as Illinois tagged Tyler Dray for three runs in the eighth and got to Todd Eaton for two more in the ninth.
Matt Murphy was the first man out of the bullpen for SIU and did his best to keep the game close. He allowed a run off two hits in two and two-thirds of an inning and retired six of the last seven batters he faced.
"Murphy looked better," Henderson said. "He did a good job. That's what we need from him every time out. That's one of the things we keep talking to our pitchers about, especially those bullpen guys. We have to know what we're getting every time out. You can't be good one day and bad the next so hopefully he'll build off that."
Saluki third baseman Donny Duschinsky went two-for-four with a walk and extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
Henderson said he was not worried about the three-game losing streak, SIU's longest of the season, because it is clear that the team is still putting forth the effort needed to win.
"We try to win every game," Henderson said. "We expect to win every game, but as long as we keep giving a good effort and keep battling, it will all work out. It's a long season. It's 56 games. You're going to have some bad stretches. It happens to everybody. Ours is right now, and hopefully that's it. We'll get through it as long as we keep playing hard, which we did. I can't fault our effort at all today. We just need to get over it quickly with conference coming up next weekend."
Southern will be back at Abe Martin Field on Tuesday against Eastern Illinois for the final game before the conference schedule begins next weekend. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ferry, Josh (1-0)
L: Dorris, Nathan (4-1)
Batting:
2B: Parr, Justin 1 ; Parr, Jordan 1
3B: Hendrickson, Davis 1
HR: Hohl, Brandon 2
RBI: Parr, Justin 1 ; Hohl, Brandon 6 ; Parr, Jordan 1 ; Hendrickson, Davis 3 ; Krug, Will 1 ; Lincoln, Alex 1
SH: Lindauer, Thomas 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lindauer, Thomas 1 ; Argo, Willie 1 ; Parr, Justin 2 ; Hohl, Brandon 3 ; Roper, Reid 2 ; Parr, Jordan 1 ; Shelton, Thomas 1 ; Hendrickson, Davis 1 ; Lincoln, Alex 1
CS: Lindauer, Thomas 1 ; Hendrickson, Davis 1
HBP: Argo, Willie 1 ; Hendrickson, Davis 1
Batting:
2B: Duschinsky, Donny 1 ; Harding, Brock 1
HR: Montgomery, Austin 1
RBI: Welch, Jake 1 ; Montgomery, Austin 2 ; Bajer, Brian 1 ; Neece, Wes 1
SH: Renner, Tanner 1
SF: Bajer, Brian 1 ; Neece, Wes 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Serritella, Chris 1 ; Montgomery, Austin 1 ; Sivertsen, Jordan 1 ; Harding, Brock 1 ; Neece, Wes 1
