Southern Illinois University
12-14
Eastern Illinois
5-19
EIU tops SIU, 10-7
03/29/2017 | 7:21:00 | Baseball
EIU (5-19) loaded the bases in the first inning with a single and two walks. Matt Albert hit a wind-aided grand slam to give the Panthers an early 4-0 lead. EIU hit a solo homer to lead off the second inning and drove in another unearned run later in the inning.
"We just dug ourselves too big of a hole," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We were down 4-0 after five hitters and 6-0 before we really got started. That's extremely hard to overcome, especially when we're not swinging it well anyway."
SIU (12-14) got a run back in the third on a Will Farmer RBI groundout, but Eastern responded with three two-out runs in the fourth to push its lead to 9-1.Â
Southern showed some resiliency late in the game. Logan Blackfan walked, Jake Hand singled and Ryan Smith singled all with two outs in the sixth to get a run back. In the seventh, Greg Lambert brought two more runs home to get SIU within 9-4.Â
After EIU scored its final run in the bottom of the seventh, SIU responded with three in the top of the eighth. Ryan Smith doubled to deep center with one out. Mitch Fairfield drew a walk, and Ryan Sabo followed with a single to load the bases. Connor Kopach drove in two with a single, and Farmer drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly.Â
"The good news is that we battled back," Henderson said. "We put some better ABs together and gave ourselves a chance."
Trailing 10-7 in the ninth, SIU got a one-out double from Logan Blackfan. With two outs, the Salukis stayed alive when Smith reached on an error, bringing the potential game-tying run to the plate. Pinch hitter Hunter Anderson hit a ball hard, but the sharp grounder was right at EIU shorstop Andrew Curran to end the game.
"We're working on it," Henderson said. "It's not a lack of effort. Guys are working at it and getting better. It's the nature of baseball; when you get into a funk, you have to work your way out of it. We saw some better ABs and some guys do good things. We'll keep at it, and eventually, we will figure it out. Guys care too much and have too much talent not to figure it out."
SIU opens Missouri Valley Conference play on Friday night at Itchy Jones Stadium against Evansville.Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: THURSTON, Chase (1-0)
L: Harrison, Brad (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Farmer, Will 1 ; Hutchins, Nick 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Smith, Ryan 1
RBI: Kopach, Connor 2 ; Farmer, Will 2 ; Lambert, Greg 2 ; Smith, Ryan 1
SF: Farmer, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Farmer, Will 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Smith, Ryan 2 ; Fairfield, Mitch 1 ; Sabo, Ryan 2
SB: Kopach, Connor 1
PO: Hutchins, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: GOVERN, Jimmy 1 ; BEAMAN, Logan 1
HR: ALBERT, Matt 1 ; PERRONE, Frankie 1
RBI: DUNCAN, Joseph 1 ; GOVERN, Jimmy 1 ; BEAMAN, Logan 2 ; PARKS, Dougie 1 ; ALBERT, Matt 4 ; PERRONE, Frankie 1
SH: SMITH, Justin 1 ; CURRAN, Andrew 1
SF: BEAMAN, Logan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: GOVERN, Jimmy 2 ; BEAMAN, Logan 2 ; PARKS, Dougie 1 ; ALBERT, Matt 1 ; MCCORMICK, Nicholas 1 ; PERRONE, Frankie 2 ; CURRAN, Andrew 1
SB: ALBERT, Matt 1 ; CURRAN, Andrew 1
HBP: GOVERN, Jimmy 1 ; PERRONE, Frankie 1
