Tuesday, May 2
Carbondale, Ill.
6 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
23-23
5
vs
6
Illinois
19-23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Illinois
0
2
0
1
2
0
1
0
0
6
11
0
Southern Illinois
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
2
0
5
10
0
Late rally falls short vs. Illinois, 6-5
05/02/2017 | 9:52:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team dropped a mid-week matchup vs. Illinois on Tuesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium, 6-5. SIU trailed 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth but battled back, scoring two in the eighth and moving the game-tying run into scoring position in the ninth. Illinois escaped the jam and salvaged the final game in the season series after SIU won the first two in Champaign earlier this year.
"I'm not disappointed in our guys at all," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We competed. We battled hard. It was a good baseball game, and we got beat. Both teams played well. Sometimes both teams play well and you don't come out on top. That's what happened tonight."
The teams went back-and-forth in the early innings. SIU (23-23) opened the scoring in the first with a Logan Blackfan RBI single. Illinois (19-23) answered right back with a pair of runs in the second to take a 2-1 lead. Dyllin Mucha's first career home run--in nearly 500 career at-bats--tied the game, 2-2. The Illini went back in front their next time up, and again Southern tied it with a Will Farmer RBI single.
Illinois got some breathing room in the fifth with three-straight singles and a sacrifice fly to open up a 5-3 lead. The Illini expanded the lead to 6-3 on a passed ball in the seventh inning.
Anthony Shimkus, Jacob Williams and Brad Harrison combined to pitch four great innings down the stretch, allowing only one unearned run. Harrison, a freshman, was particularly impressive. He retired all five batters he faced, striking out three. He induced eight swings-and-misses over the course of the five batters he faced.
"That's the best he's been all year," Henderson said. "That's the guy that we thought he was going to be all year, and that's the guy he's going to be. He had fastball command. His velocity was where we knew it could be, and he was pitching with confidence. That's a great sign. He's been better and better every time out, and that was awfully good tonight. But it's not surprising because we thought he was going to be that guy. He'll continue to get better and build off that."
Southern, which had twice overcome multi-run deficits in the ninth inning over the last two weeks, battled back in the eighth. Connor Kopach led off with a single and quickly stole second and third. Greg Lambert scored him with his MVC-leading 19th double of the year, and Jake Hand came through with a clutch two-out single to get SIU within a run.
Down to its last strike in the ninth, SIU got a single from Mucha, who moved to second base on a wild pitch. Kopach's poke up the middle bounced off the mound toward short and ended up as a routine play for Illinois shortstop Ben Troike.
"We kept battling," Henderson said. "We scored two in the eighth to put ourselves in position to win. Dyllin Mucha did a great job in the ninth to get on. Connor put a bat on it, just hit it right at them. If it's in between them, it's a tie ball game. (The game) wasn't poorly played at all."
Ryan Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk in the game. He scored SIU's first run of the game and also stole a base. He extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games. He has seven-multi-hit games during that nine-game hitting streak.
"He's doing the things good hitters do, and he's having success because of that," Henderson said. "He's worked at it. That guy cares. He shows up to play every day, and he does what he needs to do. He's gotten better as the year has gone on, and his approach is good right now. There's a reason he's having success."
Southern Illinois hosts league-leading Missouri State this weekend. The Bears are 11-0 in MVC play entering the weekend, the fourth-best start for any team in MVC history. SIU and MSU play at 6:30 on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The weekend is the program's alumni weekend. For more information on the golf outing, click here.
"I'm not disappointed in our guys at all," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We competed. We battled hard. It was a good baseball game, and we got beat. Both teams played well. Sometimes both teams play well and you don't come out on top. That's what happened tonight."
The teams went back-and-forth in the early innings. SIU (23-23) opened the scoring in the first with a Logan Blackfan RBI single. Illinois (19-23) answered right back with a pair of runs in the second to take a 2-1 lead. Dyllin Mucha's first career home run--in nearly 500 career at-bats--tied the game, 2-2. The Illini went back in front their next time up, and again Southern tied it with a Will Farmer RBI single.
Illinois got some breathing room in the fifth with three-straight singles and a sacrifice fly to open up a 5-3 lead. The Illini expanded the lead to 6-3 on a passed ball in the seventh inning.
Anthony Shimkus, Jacob Williams and Brad Harrison combined to pitch four great innings down the stretch, allowing only one unearned run. Harrison, a freshman, was particularly impressive. He retired all five batters he faced, striking out three. He induced eight swings-and-misses over the course of the five batters he faced.
"That's the best he's been all year," Henderson said. "That's the guy that we thought he was going to be all year, and that's the guy he's going to be. He had fastball command. His velocity was where we knew it could be, and he was pitching with confidence. That's a great sign. He's been better and better every time out, and that was awfully good tonight. But it's not surprising because we thought he was going to be that guy. He'll continue to get better and build off that."
Southern, which had twice overcome multi-run deficits in the ninth inning over the last two weeks, battled back in the eighth. Connor Kopach led off with a single and quickly stole second and third. Greg Lambert scored him with his MVC-leading 19th double of the year, and Jake Hand came through with a clutch two-out single to get SIU within a run.
Down to its last strike in the ninth, SIU got a single from Mucha, who moved to second base on a wild pitch. Kopach's poke up the middle bounced off the mound toward short and ended up as a routine play for Illinois shortstop Ben Troike.
"We kept battling," Henderson said. "We scored two in the eighth to put ourselves in position to win. Dyllin Mucha did a great job in the ninth to get on. Connor put a bat on it, just hit it right at them. If it's in between them, it's a tie ball game. (The game) wasn't poorly played at all."
Ryan Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk in the game. He scored SIU's first run of the game and also stole a base. He extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games. He has seven-multi-hit games during that nine-game hitting streak.
"He's doing the things good hitters do, and he's having success because of that," Henderson said. "He's worked at it. That guy cares. He shows up to play every day, and he does what he needs to do. He's gotten better as the year has gone on, and his approach is good right now. There's a reason he's having success."
Southern Illinois hosts league-leading Missouri State this weekend. The Bears are 11-0 in MVC play entering the weekend, the fourth-best start for any team in MVC history. SIU and MSU play at 6:30 on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The weekend is the program's alumni weekend. For more information on the golf outing, click here.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Devermann, Zak (1-0)
L: Montgomery, Allen (0-2)
S: Gerber, Joey (7)
Batting:
3B: Hammond, Trent 1
RBI: Massey, Michael 1 ; Skonieczny, Mark 1 ; Spillane, Bren 1 ; Hammond, Trent 1 ; Turchin, Doran 1
SF: Skonieczny, Mark 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Engel, Tyler 1 ; McInerney, Pat 1 ; Massey, Michael 1 ; Skonieczny, Mark 1 ; Troike, Ben 1 ; Spillane, Bren 1
SB: Yalowitz, Jack 2 ; McInerney, Pat 1 ; Troike, Ben 1
CS: Yalowitz, Jack 1
Batting:
2B: Smith, Ryan 1 ; Lambert, Greg 1
HR: Mucha, Dyllin 1
RBI: Lambert, Greg 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Hand, Jake 1 ; Farmer, Will 1 ; Mucha, Dyllin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kopach, Connor 1 ; Smith, Ryan 1 ; Lambert, Greg 1 ; Hutchins, Nick 1 ; Mucha, Dyllin 1
SB: Kopach, Connor 2 ; Smith, Ryan 1 ; Hutchins, Nick 1
CS: Smith, Ryan 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
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