Friday, March 23
Carbondale, Ill.
1 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
10-12
2
vs
6
UC Irvine
12-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
UC Irvine
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
4
6
9
2
Southern Illinois
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
2
7
1
Photo by: Tom Weber
Irvine takes series opener, 6-2
03/23/2018 | 6:23:00 | Baseball
Photo Gallery
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball program sent the game to extra innings with a run in the ninth, but UC Irvine scored four runs in the 10th to pull out a 6-2 decision over SIU and take the series opener.
"That's a typical Friday baseball game, especially like what we will see in our league," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "They're a really good ball club, and we're a really good ball club. At the end of the day, we did a ton of good things, but we did two or three bad things that just killed us. If you make two or three mistakes on a Friday against a pitcher who is that good, it comes back to hurt you."
Both starting pitchers were dominant. UC Irvine starter Andre Pallante came into the game with a 3-0 record and an 0.81 ERA. He lived up to the reputation with 10 strikeouts over eight one-run innings.
"That guy comes in 3-0 with an ERA under 1.00. He's legit," Henderson said. "Those aren't fluke numbers. The kid is good. When you get a chance to score on him, you have to score."
But SIU starter Michael Baird was just as good, striking out eight over 7.2 innings.
"That's two big-time pitchers in college baseball on a Friday doing what they do," Henderson said.
SIU scored first with a two-out rally in the sixth. Connor Kopach hit a two-out single. While Pallante was preoccupied with Kopach, the nation's leading base stealer, Logan Blackfan worked into a 2-0 count between Pallante's four pickoff attempts. Blackfan drove a double down the left-field line, and Kopach scored from first.
UC Irvine answered in its next half-inning with a one-out run-scoring double. The Anteaters took the lead in the eighth on a lucky break. A routine single up the middle hit the second-base bag and caromed into left field, turning the single into a double, and the run scored on a two-out single.
Alex Lyon led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and stole second. He overslid the bag and was caught in a rundown trying to advance to third. With the bases then empty, Austin Ulick followed with a double, and Brad Harrison sent the game to extra innings with a pinch-hit double.
"I'm unbelievably proud of our guys for grinding and battling all day long," Henderson said. "Like we've done so many times, this club will not quit. They play hard to the last pitch."
UC Irvine made several outstanding defensive plays to save runs. Right fielder Konnor Zickefoose made a diving catch to rob an RBI double from Ulick in the second inning. Third baseman Parker Coss made a diving play to prevent another run in the fifth. Shortstop Christian Coss made a leaping grab to rob Ulick of another RBI in the sixth. In the eighth, left fielder Brendan Brooks made an acrobatic basket catch to take a double or triple away from Kopach.
"It's a game of inches sometimes, and a couple breaks went their way," Henderson said. "But there were some things that we can control that we didn't control."
The second game of the series remains scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on Saturday at Itchy Jones Stadium. With rain forecasted, follow @SIU_Baseball on Twitter for first alerts on any schedule changes.
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball program sent the game to extra innings with a run in the ninth, but UC Irvine scored four runs in the 10th to pull out a 6-2 decision over SIU and take the series opener.
"That's a typical Friday baseball game, especially like what we will see in our league," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "They're a really good ball club, and we're a really good ball club. At the end of the day, we did a ton of good things, but we did two or three bad things that just killed us. If you make two or three mistakes on a Friday against a pitcher who is that good, it comes back to hurt you."
Both starting pitchers were dominant. UC Irvine starter Andre Pallante came into the game with a 3-0 record and an 0.81 ERA. He lived up to the reputation with 10 strikeouts over eight one-run innings.
"That guy comes in 3-0 with an ERA under 1.00. He's legit," Henderson said. "Those aren't fluke numbers. The kid is good. When you get a chance to score on him, you have to score."
But SIU starter Michael Baird was just as good, striking out eight over 7.2 innings.
"That's two big-time pitchers in college baseball on a Friday doing what they do," Henderson said.
SIU scored first with a two-out rally in the sixth. Connor Kopach hit a two-out single. While Pallante was preoccupied with Kopach, the nation's leading base stealer, Logan Blackfan worked into a 2-0 count between Pallante's four pickoff attempts. Blackfan drove a double down the left-field line, and Kopach scored from first.
UC Irvine answered in its next half-inning with a one-out run-scoring double. The Anteaters took the lead in the eighth on a lucky break. A routine single up the middle hit the second-base bag and caromed into left field, turning the single into a double, and the run scored on a two-out single.
Alex Lyon led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and stole second. He overslid the bag and was caught in a rundown trying to advance to third. With the bases then empty, Austin Ulick followed with a double, and Brad Harrison sent the game to extra innings with a pinch-hit double.
"I'm unbelievably proud of our guys for grinding and battling all day long," Henderson said. "Like we've done so many times, this club will not quit. They play hard to the last pitch."
UC Irvine made several outstanding defensive plays to save runs. Right fielder Konnor Zickefoose made a diving catch to rob an RBI double from Ulick in the second inning. Third baseman Parker Coss made a diving play to prevent another run in the fifth. Shortstop Christian Coss made a leaping grab to rob Ulick of another RBI in the sixth. In the eighth, left fielder Brendan Brooks made an acrobatic basket catch to take a double or triple away from Kopach.
"It's a game of inches sometimes, and a couple breaks went their way," Henderson said. "But there were some things that we can control that we didn't control."
The second game of the series remains scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on Saturday at Itchy Jones Stadium. With rain forecasted, follow @SIU_Baseball on Twitter for first alerts on any schedule changes.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bocko, Jordan (2-1)
L: McDaniel, Trey (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Castro, Jacob 1 ; Reitano, Matt 1
HR: Fitzpatrick, Ryan 1
RBI: Coss, Parker 1 ; Zickefoose, Konnor 1 ; Fitzpatrick, Ryan 3 ; Castro, Jacob 1
SH: Reitano, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Palmer, Jake 1 ; Coss, Parker 1 ; Zickefoose, Konnor 1 ; Fitzpatrick, Ryan 1 ; Koss, Christian 1 ; Reitano, Matt 1
SB: Zickefoose, Konnor 1
Batting:
2B: Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Ulick, Austin 2 ; Harrison, Brad 1
RBI: Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Harrison, Brad 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kopach, Connor 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1
SB: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Kopach, Connor 1
CS: Lyon, Alex 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballINF/LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
C
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