SIU sweeps doubleheader from No. 26 Tennessee Tech, clinches series

Saturday, April 22

Carbondale, Ill.

2 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

19-20

Tennessee Tech

30-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Tennessee Tech	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	4	10	4
Southern Illinois	0	0	2	3	0	0	1	0	X	6	7	0

SIU sweeps doubleheader from No. 26 Tennessee Tech, clinches series

04/22/2017 | 9:14:00 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois baseball earned a doubleheader sweep over No. 26 Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium to clinch the series. Southern's pitching, led by Chad Whitmer, shut down the high-powered Golden Eagles (30-11) in the opener, 6-4, and the Salukis (20-20) walked off in the second game with a three-run, two-out rally in the ninth to win, 10-9.

"I'm proud of them because they battled all day," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "That's probably the best we have competed in a long, long time. Even without the ninth-inning heroics, I was proud of them because we competed. We've talked about handling adversity and not giving in. We gave up a four-spot and went down to one of the best teams we will play all year. That's adversity, and they didn't quit. They stayed right in it. It was great to see them rewarded for it."

Chad Whitmer stymied one of the best offenses in the nation in hte opener. Tennessee Tech (30-11) leads the nation in extra-base hits per game and ranks third in runs per game. Whitmer, the reigning MVC Pitcher of the Week, was excellent again this week. He limited TTU to just two earned runs on nine hits, and Whitmer pitched into the eighth. With a runner on in the eighth, Alex Gutermuth limited the damage, and Ryan Netemeyer pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save of the season.

"His intensity level has picked up," Henderson said of Whitmer. "I think his confidence has picked up. He's getting after it. You'd have to ask him, but I think he got tired of not being as good as he can be. He got back to work and got back to basics. He's worked his way back to being the guy we know he can be. When you work hard, you're going to have success. That's what he's done."

The offenses were the story of the second game. TTU took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the second, but the Salukis took a 4-3 lead after three innings. TTU see-sawed back in front in the fourth, and Southern tied it in the bottom half. The Golden Eagles got breathing room in the fifth inning with a bases-clearing two-out double. Another run came home to push TTU's lead to 9-5.

Austin McPheron was the key to Southern's comeback. He relieved starter Michael Baird in the fifth inning and went the rest of the way without allowing a single run. It was his third-longest scoreless outing of his 53-appearance career.

"That's an area where we haven't been very good. When we get down, we usually don't throw up zeros, and we let teams expand the lead," Henderson said. "Those are the games that have gotten away from us. For (McPheron) to come in and throw up zeros to give our offense a chance, that's what you have to do out of the bullpen, no matter how many you're down. That's demoralizing to get down 9-5, but he did a phenomenal job against a good offensive club to give us a chance."

The Salukis started their comeback in the seventh. Addison Fugitt started the inning with a single and moved to third on a Ryan Smith single. Fugitt scored on a wild pitch, and Greg Lambert drove home Smith with a deep double. Not only did the rally bring SIU to within 9-7, it also forced TTU to bring in closer Ethan Roberts for an eight-out save opportunity.

Roberts--who ranked 10th in the nation with 10 saves this year--was stellar for the first seven outs. He struck out three and allowed only one hit in the first eight batters he faced. With two outs in the ninth, Greg Lambert singled up the middle to bring the tying run to the plate. Logan Blackfan crushed a double to left center to bring SIU within 9-8. Nick Hutchins followed with a bloop single to tie the game, and Jake Hand smacked a double down the left-field line to score Hutchins all the way from first.

"That wasn't my hit; that was the team's hit," Hand said of his walk-off double. "It feels really, really good to come out of a doubleheader like that. I thought we handled them well in the first game. We swung the bats better, and that showed up in the second game. We were in control of that first game. For (TTU) to come back like that in the second game was really impressive. It was even more impressive that we were able to stick with it the whole game and come back."

Tennessee Tech, which is ranked No. 26 nationally by Collegiate Baseball, was the first ranked team SIU has played this season. The Salukis are just the third team to win a series against the Golden Eagles in 2017. Nobody has swept TTU yet, but Southern has a chance on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Joey Marciano will start for the Salukis. SIU is looking for its fourth sweep of the season.