Maroon opens Fall World Series with 7-5 win
10/17/2015 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki baseball team opened their Fall World Series on Saturday at Itchy Jones Stadium, with the Maroon team winning the first game over the Black team, 7-5. Seth Hackett earned the win, with Anthony Shimkus getting the save.
It was the Black team that struck first, taking a 3-0 lead after three-straight RBI doubles in the first inning from Greg Lambert, Hunter Anderson, and Drew Curtis. Austin McPheron was strong in the start, pitching two innings with three strikeouts.
The Maroon team would rally and tie the game in the third inning, after a Kenny King two-run double down the third baseline and a Jake Hand RBI single.
Both teams would score a pair of runs in the fourth inning to make it a 5-5 game.
It took until the eighth inning to finally break the tie, with the Maroon squad pushing two runs across the plate. Dyllin Mucha brought in the first run with a sacrifice fly into the outfield, and was immediately followed by an RBI single from Will Farmer to make it a 7-5 game. Holding a two-run lead, Shimkus shutdown the Black team offense, pitching 1.1 hitless innings to earn the save.
Farmer led the Maroon team with three hits, while King had a team-high two RBI. The bullpen for the Maroon team was stellar over the final five frames, limiting the Black team to only two hits and no runs.
The two teams will continue the three-game series this week at Itchy Jones Stadium.
