Salukis swept with 11-1 loss Sunday at Wichita State

Sunday, April 20

Wichita, Kan.

12:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

20-20, 3-9

Wichita State

21-18, 6-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Wichita State	2	0	3	1	5	0	X	11	14	1

04/20/2014 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

April 20, 2014

Box Score

By Scott Gierman
SIUSalukis.com

WICHITA, Kan. - Southern Illinois suffered its second run-rule loss to Wichita State in three days in an 11-1 loss in seven innings Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium. With the loss, the Salukis (20-20, 3-9 MVC) fell back to .500 for the first time since they were 8-8 on March 14. The Shockers (21-18, 6-6 MVC) outscored SIU by a 25-4 margin in the three-game sweep.

Things looked promising early but turned quickly as SIU struck for a run in the top of the first inning and then gave up 11 unanswered runs in the first five frames.

"We didn't pitch well all day," SIU Coach Henderson said. "We just had a bad day and got beat in every area of the game. Wichita State is a good ballclub. If you don't execute pitches, they're going to hit them. They have big, strong, physical kids with good bat speed."

The Shockers took a 5-1 advantage in the bottom of the third when they stacked three runs on top of their 2-1 lead. Daniel Kihle started the inning with a double. After a groundout moved him to third base, Casey Gillaspie lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle for a single to score Kihle.

Gillaspie then stole second base and scored on Chase Simpson's double to left-center. Zair Koeiman capped the rally when he beat out an infield single hit in the hole on the left side of the infield to chase home Simpson. Jake Welch made a great sliding stop on the play, but his throw was just late.

"When they put up a few runs, that took some air out of us," Welch said. "We have to regroup better than we did."

The third inning rally spelled the end for SIU starter Aaron Hauge. He allowed five runs off six hits in his second shortest outing of the season and dropped his second straight decision after starting the season 3-1.

"He just didn't have command again," Henderson said. "He threw too many hittable balls in the middle of the zone. Coming off a tough loss, you need to get off to a good start. We gave up two in the first when we needed to throw up a zero after we scored."

In the first inning, Welch hit his first triple of the year and drove in Connor Kopach from first base. Kopach had reached on a fielding error by shortstop Tanner Kirk.

"We broke the ice," Welch said. "I thought that was going to be big since we came out slow the first two games. I thought we were having good ABs to start, but things just fell apart."

Despite grabbing an early lead, the inning came to an inauspicious end as the Salukis could not get Welch home with the middle of the order up and only one out. The inning concluded with a strikeout and a flyout.

"We had our four-hole hitter up and the infield back," Henderson said. "We had to find a way to get that run in, and we didn't do that. That's a little bit demoralizing."

Wichita responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning with Micah Green's two-run, two-out double to left-center field.

The Salukis missed a few chances to add to their run total and keep it close early in the game. In the first four innings, SIU left six men on base, four of them in scoring position. A big missed opportunity came in the top of the fourth inning when SIU loaded up the bases with two outs but couldn't get a run across.

After Hauge's struggles, Southern turned to Chad Whitmer and Lee Weld out of the bullpen, but neither of them could corral the Shockers' bats.

Whitmer allowed four runs in an inning and a third. He surrendered a home run to Daniel Kihle in the fourth to make it a 6-1 game.

The game got out of hand in the fifth inning. After retiring the first batter of the frame, Whitmer allowed a single, double and triple in succession and left with Tyler Baker at third base and the Salukis trailing 8-1 with only one out.

Weld replaced Whitmer and hit ninth-place hitter Tanner Kirk with a pitch to put runners at the corners. The next three hitters were Kihle, Dayne Parker and Gillaspie, and each of them drove in a run with a single, groundout and single, respectively. That made it a 10-run deficit for the Salukis.

Meanwhile, SIU's hitters could not get anything going in the final three innings. The Salukis got a leadoff single in the sixth and seventh, but a double play ended both innings.

Wichita State's Sam Tewes allowed one unearned run off four hits in six innings of work and earned his sixth win of the season. The freshman walked four and struck out two.

"He was able to locate his fastball in and away," Welch said. "That's really key in this league. He was good. I know we wish we could've had a few more hits against him, but that's a credit to him."

SIU will look to get back on track when the Salukis return home for a nonconference game against Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Itchy Jones Stadium.