Salukis take down SEMO, 4-2, with pitching and defense

Tuesday, April 11

Carbondale, Ill.

5 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

17-17

Southeast Missouri

17-14

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southeast Missouri	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	2
Southern Illinois	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	X	4	8	1

04/11/2017 | 8:20:00 | Baseball

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team turned four double plays and pitched six scoreless innings out of the bullpen in a 4-2 win over Southeast Missouri on Tuesday evening at Itchy Jones Stadium.

"We played well," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "That was a fun game. From the get-go, we played well and had energy. Guys were ready to go. We barreled some balls up early that were hit right at them. That was a good sign because our guys, even though we didn't have hits, gained confidence. We took good swings all day long. Other than the leadoff walk in the second that led to two runs, we pitched awfully well today."

The Salukis (17-17) fell behind 2-0 early when the Redhawks (17-14) scored a pair of unearned runs in the second inning. They were poised to add to it in the third with the bases loaded and one out. With all three runners tagging on a fly ball to the warning track, SIU right fielder Ryan Smith caught the fly ball and gunned down the SEMO runner at second base before the run from third crossed the plate.

Dyllin Mucha started the bottom half of the inning with a single, and Addison Fugitt followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Ryan Smith drove home Mucha with an RBI single.

Fugitt and Smith were in the middle of both SIU rallies. Fugitt started the fifth inning with a leadoff single. He moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Connor Kopach, and Smith again drove home the run with an RBI groundout. Kopach then stole third and scored when the throw from the catcher got away. Jake Hand, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday, hit a solo home run to give the Salukis a 4-2 lead.

Fugitt was playing in his first collegiate game after missing the first 33 games with an injured hand. He went 2-for-2 with a walk and scored a run in his first action as a Saluki.

"He's going to be a nice player," Henderson said of Fugitt. "I've told guys that all along. He can really run. He hasn't seen a live pitch in two months, since before the season started. He provided a little spark. When you see a guy who hasn't played in two months do that, it's exciting for everybody. I'm really happy for him."

From there, the game belonged to SIU's defense and bullpen. Jamison Steege relieved starter Henry Boeckmann to start the fourth inning. Steege allowed a base runner in each of his two innings, but Will Farmer, Connor Kopach and Greg Lambert teamed up for 6-4-3 double plays each time to eliminate the threat. McPheron came in and threw two no-hit innings.

"We knew we were going to use a lot of bullpen guys," Henderson said. "We needed to run those guys back out there because they didn't throw well this weekend. We knew they were better than that, and we needed to get them back out there to get confidence."

In the eighth, SEMO managed a one-out walk and a single against Southern reliever Jacob Williams, but the Salukis turned another 6-4-3 double play to end that inning. In the ninth inning, closer Ryan Netemeyer set down the Redhawks in order and struck out the last batter of the game to secure his MVC-leading 11th save of the season.

"We needed to play well because we didn't play well in Wichita," Henderson said. "We certainly didn't pitch well in Wichita. To throw eight shutout innings was big for us. Confidence-wise, that's important, and we got a little momentum. We haven't been very good mid-week, so to win a mid-week game, I think it was an important ballgame for us."

SIU, which was shut out in last week's mid-week game vs. Austin Peay, improved to 2-7 in mid-week games this year. After last week's game, SIU was shut out at Wichita State on Friday. After this week's win, Southern travels to Indiana State for a three-game MVC series, starting Friday night.

"We played so poorly last Tuesday, there was a little bit of a hangover for us on Friday. I'm confident of that," Henderson said. "So hopefully we will go into Indiana State with a different frame of mind than we went into Wichita with."