Sunday, April 2
Carbondale, Ill.
1 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
15-14, 0
8
vs
3
Evansville
8-20, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Evansville
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
3
5
1
Southern Illinois
1
0
0
2
0
1
3
1
X
8
14
0
SIU tops Evansville 8-3 to sweep MVC-opening series
04/02/2017 | 6:23:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team beat Evansville 8-3 on Sunday afternoon to complete the three-game sweep of the Aces. SIU scored seven of its eight run with two outs, and Austin McPheron and Alex Gutermuth combined to throw five innings of one-run baseball down the stretch to earn the win and the save, respectively.Â
"We played well. Most importantly, I saw people starting to do things right," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "Our hitters used their hands a little bit and hit balls up the middle. We competed, especially late in that game when we had the lead. We tell our pitchers all the time, 'If you throw strikes, those guys will play behind you.' To me, the last thing in this weekend is how great our middle infielders play. They didn't just make the routine plays; they made spectacular plays."
Connor Kopach led off the game with a single and moved into scoring position on a Greg Lambert single. Logan Blackfan came through with a two-out RBI single to give SIU a 1-0 lead. Blackfan's clutch two-out single started a trend. SIU was 7-for-13 with seven RBIs with two outs in the game.
"That's because we didn't try to do too much," Henderson said. "To me, that's the most exciting thing. We battled. We used our hands. We hit balls up the middle. That's how you get two-out hits and two-out RBIs. That's how you hit, period."
Evansville's Brendan Krob led off the third inning with a home run to tie the game. SIU struck right back with two runs in the fourth. Jake Hand hit a one-out triple and came home on a Hunter Anderson single. Connor Kopach drove in SIU's third run of the game with a two-out single. Kopach was 4-for-5 in the game and 3-for-3 with three RBIs in two-out situations.Â
SIU starter Joey Marciano struck out seven, but he exited the game after walking the first two batters of the fifth inning. Austin McPheron limited the fifth-inning damage to one run and ended up pitching 2.1 innings, earning the win. Evansville's only run on SIU's bullpen Sunday came when Trey Hair beat out a two-out infield single to score a run in the seventh.Â
SIU responded with three insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh and a final run in the eighth. In the seventh, Hunter Anderson started the rally with a two-out run-scoring double. After a pitching change, Will Farmer singled home Anderson and Ryan Sabo followed with a walk. Kopach brought in Farmer to push SIU's lead to 7-3. In the eighth, Dyllin Mucha pushed in an insurance run with two outs to set the final score.Â
For the game, SIU's offense exploded for 14 hits. Eight of the nine spots in the order reached at least once. Southern also stole three bases in the game and now has 51 stolen bases this year.Â
"We've worked extremely hard all year, and it's been good for our offense," Henderson said of the running game. "It has created runs. It does a lot of things. People know we run coming in; so if you watch their pitchers, they're aware of what's going on behind them. I think it's somewhat of a distraction."
SIU started 3-0 in the MVC for the first time since 2011. Southern travels to Wichtia State next weekend for a three-game series against the Shockers. First up, SIU hosts Austin Peay in a mid-week game on Tuesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium.Â
"We took care of business," Henderson said. "It's just three games, and it's a long season. We're going to focus on Tuesday and try to keep this momentum going. I'm proud of our guys. It was a good weekend, and we did what we needed to do."
"We played well. Most importantly, I saw people starting to do things right," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "Our hitters used their hands a little bit and hit balls up the middle. We competed, especially late in that game when we had the lead. We tell our pitchers all the time, 'If you throw strikes, those guys will play behind you.' To me, the last thing in this weekend is how great our middle infielders play. They didn't just make the routine plays; they made spectacular plays."
Connor Kopach led off the game with a single and moved into scoring position on a Greg Lambert single. Logan Blackfan came through with a two-out RBI single to give SIU a 1-0 lead. Blackfan's clutch two-out single started a trend. SIU was 7-for-13 with seven RBIs with two outs in the game.
"That's because we didn't try to do too much," Henderson said. "To me, that's the most exciting thing. We battled. We used our hands. We hit balls up the middle. That's how you get two-out hits and two-out RBIs. That's how you hit, period."
Evansville's Brendan Krob led off the third inning with a home run to tie the game. SIU struck right back with two runs in the fourth. Jake Hand hit a one-out triple and came home on a Hunter Anderson single. Connor Kopach drove in SIU's third run of the game with a two-out single. Kopach was 4-for-5 in the game and 3-for-3 with three RBIs in two-out situations.Â
SIU starter Joey Marciano struck out seven, but he exited the game after walking the first two batters of the fifth inning. Austin McPheron limited the fifth-inning damage to one run and ended up pitching 2.1 innings, earning the win. Evansville's only run on SIU's bullpen Sunday came when Trey Hair beat out a two-out infield single to score a run in the seventh.Â
SIU responded with three insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh and a final run in the eighth. In the seventh, Hunter Anderson started the rally with a two-out run-scoring double. After a pitching change, Will Farmer singled home Anderson and Ryan Sabo followed with a walk. Kopach brought in Farmer to push SIU's lead to 7-3. In the eighth, Dyllin Mucha pushed in an insurance run with two outs to set the final score.Â
For the game, SIU's offense exploded for 14 hits. Eight of the nine spots in the order reached at least once. Southern also stole three bases in the game and now has 51 stolen bases this year.Â
"We've worked extremely hard all year, and it's been good for our offense," Henderson said of the running game. "It has created runs. It does a lot of things. People know we run coming in; so if you watch their pitchers, they're aware of what's going on behind them. I think it's somewhat of a distraction."
SIU started 3-0 in the MVC for the first time since 2011. Southern travels to Wichtia State next weekend for a three-game series against the Shockers. First up, SIU hosts Austin Peay in a mid-week game on Tuesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium.Â
"We took care of business," Henderson said. "It's just three games, and it's a long season. We're going to focus on Tuesday and try to keep this momentum going. I'm proud of our guys. It was a good weekend, and we did what we needed to do."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McPheron, Austin (3-3)
L: Hayden, Justin (2-4)
S: Gutermuth, Alex (1)
Batting:
HR: Krob, Brendan 1
RBI: Hair, Trey 1 ; Krob, Brendan 1
SH: Shepherd, Craig 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Krob, Brendan 2 ; Day, Jimmy 1
Batting:
2B: Anderson, Hunter 1
3B: Hand, Jake 1
RBI: Kopach, Connor 3 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Mucha, Dyllin 1 ; Anderson, Hunter 2 ; Farmer, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kopach, Connor 1 ; Lambert, Greg 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Hand, Jake 1 ; Anderson, Hunter 2 ; Farmer, Will 1 ; Sabo, Ryan 1
SB: Kopach, Connor 1 ; Lambert, Greg 1 ; Sabo, Ryan 1
CS: Mucha, Dyllin 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
4
RBI
3
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
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