Sycamores take series with doubleheader sweep

Saturday, April 15

Terre Haute, Ind.

1 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

18-18, 0

Indiana State

16-15, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	6	1
Indiana State	3	0	1	5	2	4	X	15	18	1

04/15/2017 | 7:16:00 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Indiana State baseball team won both ends of a doubleheader against Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon to take the series, 2-1. The Sycamores run-ruled SIU, 15-2, in the opener and scored four late unearned runs to win the nightcap, 4-1.

"Obviously, it wasn't a great day," SIU head coach Ken Henderson. "In game one, we didn't command the strike zone. That was the story of the game. In game two, we couldn't get the big hit. We had some opportunities to score early on. It was a frustrating day, but we just have to stay at it."

With a 30-mile-per-hour wind blowing out to left throughout the day, Indiana State (17-15, 4-2 MVC) scored three runs in the first inning against SIU starter Michael Baird. After a walk, two fly outs turned into a double off the wall and a home run with the aid of the wind, and the Sycamores had an early 3-0 lead.

The big first inning got the Sycamore bats rolling, and the wind wasn't a factor the rest of the game. Indiana State pounded out 18 hits, including four doubles, a triple and four home runs.

"We didn't execute any pitches," Henderson said. "The wind is blowing out at 30 miles per hour, and we have to keep the ball down in the strike zone. There were way too many pitches at the belt. When you do that to a good hitting ball club, that's the story of the game."

Southern (18-19, 5-4 MVC) got within 3-2 in the third inning. Connor Kopach and Ryan Sabo executed a perfect first-and-third steal, and Greg Lambert drove in Kopach with a single. But the Sycamores responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning and five more in the fourth to blow the game open. Their four-run sixth inning put the game in run-rule territory.

Indiana State had all the momentum going into the second game, but SIU starter Joey Marciano tempered the offense with five shutout innings. He battled traffic on the base paths due to four walks, but he didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning and pitched into the sixth. He struck out four and allowed just three hits.

"That was maybe his best outing of the year," Henderson said. "His pitch count got up, so we had to take him out. But we pitched well enough to win that game, which is a credit to our guys."

Offensively, SIU had chances but couldn't capitalize in the second game. The Salukis were 0-for-12 with runners on base and 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Indiana State struggled in the same aspect--the Sycamores were just 2-for-17 with runners on base--but those two hits were the difference in the game.

"I'm proud of our guys," Henderson said. "Our effort in the second game was good; we just couldn't get the big hit. To have the first game go like it did, it would have been easy to lay down and not battle. We didn't do that. We battled all game, but we couldn't get the hit and then ran out of gas."

Southern's defense made a pair of uncharacteristic errors in a scoreless game in the seventh inning. Indiana State put runners on first and third after SIU failed to record an out on a sacrifice bunt. Alex Gutermuth got a huge strikeout and bunt pop-up to keep the runners there with two outs. But Indiana State followed with back-to-back two-out singles to push across a pair of runs. A third run came across on a bases-loaded hit batsman, and the fourth scored in the eighth inning on another SIU error. All four Sycamore runs were unearned.

"You have to get an out on a sac bunt," Henderson said. "Maybe it's a different story. That's what creates big innings. You may not get the lead out, but you have to get an out. We didn't do that."

Southern's only run came in the eighth inning. Lambert led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored on a Logan Blackfan RBI groundout.

Indiana State won the series 2-1 with the doubleheader sweep. Southern fell to 10-12 in road games this year, but the Salukis are 8-5 at home, and 14 of the next 15 SIU games are at Itchy Jones Stadium. First up, SIU hosts Belmont on Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT before Tennessee Tech comes to Carbondale for a weekend series.