Salukis complete sweep of No. 26 Tennessee Tech

Sunday, April 23

Carbondale, Ill.

1 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

21-20

Tennessee Tech

30-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Tennessee Tech	1	0	0	0	0	5	1	1	0	8	13	3
Southern Illinois	2	3	0	2	0	1	5	0	X	13	13	2

04/23/2017 | 6:43:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team exploded offensively for a 13-8 win over No. 26 Tennessee Tech on Sunday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Salukis swept the three-game series and became the first team to sweep the Golden Eagles (30-12) in 2017.

"I'm glad they're leaving town," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "I don't want to face those guys anymore. They have some physical guys, offensively. Their record is not a fluke. They're really good."

Connor Kopach tied a school record with four stolen bases--something that hadn't been done at SIU since 1992--and Greg Lambert with 4-for-4 with seven RBIs--just one away from the school's single-game RBI record. TTU came into the series on a five-game winning streak and was 22-4 in its last 26 games. TTU came into the weekend in the top-five nationally in most offensive categories, but it was Southern's offense that won the weekend. The Salukis scored 29 runs in the three-game series and pounded out 11 doubles while hitting .336.

"Our biggest problem was confidence, and we obviously gained confidence from this," Henderson said. "That's why we played better and better offensively as the weekend went on. The offense started gaining confidence. It's contagious. As an individual hitter, when you get a hit or have a good AB, you start feeling good about yourself. But also, if you're sitting in the dugout and your teammates are having success, you say, 'We can do this.' We got it going in the right direction."

SIU starting pitcher Joey Marciano shut down TTU's potent offense for most of the day. In the top of the first inning, Tennessee Tech led off with a double and a run-scoring single. After that, Marciano set down 15 of the next 17 he faced.

"This was by far his best start," Henderson said of Marciano. "He was much more efficient. He had a lot of 3-2 counts again, but he made good pitches and got people out. Those are the pitches he had been letting get away from him. His focus was outstanding. He pounded the zone, and everyone who has seen him knows that if he pounds the zone he will have success. He doesn't get hit hard."

While Marciano was dealing, Southern's offense grabbed control of the game. Ryan Smith singled ahead of back-to-back doubles by Greg Lambert and Logan Blackfan in the bottom of the first, giving SIU a 2-1 lead. Kopach drove in another run in the second inning, and Lambert drove in two more. In the fourth, Smith and Lambert tacked on two more runs to push the lead to 7-1.

Tennessee Tech charged back in the sixth. A walk and two singles scored a run and chased Marciano. An error and a single scored another run and loaded the bases with one out. David Garza cleared the bases with a double to bring TTU within 7-6. Jacob Williams came in and got the final two outs to keep SIU in the lead.

Lambert answered right back with sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning to push Southern's lead to 8-6. TTU hit a solo homer in the seventh to get back within a run, but SIU broke it open again with a five-run seventh. Dyllin Mucha (walk) and Will Farmer (single) each reached after seven-pitch at-bats. Ryan Sabo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Addison Fugitt scored a run with a grounder; Kopach was hit by a pitch; and Smith hit a sac fly. Lambert capped it off with a two-run single.

"We need to limit big innings," Henderson said. "Everybody is going to give up runs, but that needs to be a two-run inning instead of a five-run inning. That being said, I'm unbelievable proud of our offense for coming back and answering that."

Southern's three-game sweep was its fourth sweep of the year. This was the biggest of the year, coming against the first ranked opponent SIU has faced this year. After hosting the OVC-leading Golden Eagles this weekend, SIU hosts the top two teams in the MVC the next two weekends. Dallas Baptist, which is 6-3 in the league, comes to Carbondale next weekend, and Missouri State, which is undefeated in the MVC at 9-0, comes to town the weekend after that. DBU's only three losses in the league are to Missouri State.

"(TTU) is an awfully good ball club, obviously," Henderson said. "This weekend and the next two are the three toughest weekends we will have all year. It was huge to get off to a good start. More importantly, it was confidence the club needed."