Salukis open MVC play with doubleheader sweep at Illinois State

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NORMAL, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball program started Missouri Valley Conference play with a doubleheader sweep at Illinois State on Friday. Head coach Ken Henderson recorded his 200th career win, and closer Ryan Netemeyer set the program's saves record with his 31st and 32nd career saves.

In the opener, SIU (14-12, 2-0 MVC) trailed 4-3 after seven innings. Connor Kopach and Logan Blackfan hit back-to-back two-out RBI singles to give SIU the lead. Grey Epps hit his first career homer in the ninth inning to provide insurance, and Netemeyer broke Bryant George's SIU career saves record with a scoreless ninth inning.

"It means a lot. It feels good to do something like that. It's cool that the team gave me all those opportunities. I thank them more than anything," Netemeyer said of setting the SIU saves record.

The win also gave head coach Ken Henderson the 200th win of his career. After the doubleheader, Henderson downplayed his personal achievement and shifted the focus to Netemeyer.

"It absolutely means nothing, other than we started the league 1-0," Henderson said of his achievement. "We got off to a great start. But I will say I'm proud to have my 200th win associated with Ryan Netemeyer and his save record. He's a special young man. I can't say enough about the kind of person he is. If you had 27 Ryan Netemeyers, life would be easy. They don't make them any better than that young man. He deserves all the success he's had in this program. He's earned it; he works hard; and he does all the right things. I couldn't be happier for him."

In the second game, SIU went down in order in each of the first two innings. Illinois State took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second, and SIU answered right back with a four-run third inning to take the lead. Austin Ulick started with a single, and Brad Hudson followed with a one-out bunt single to turn the lineup over to the top of the order. Nikola Vasic pounded a two-run triple. Kopach tied the game with a sac fly, and Alex Lyon gave SIU the lead with an RBI single.

"Our offense should get a lot of credit," Henderson said. "We were down 3-0 and hadn't done anything off (Redbird starter Headrick); but as soon as they scored, we threw up a four-spot. That got us going a little bit, and we added on with some big ABs."

SIU extended the lead in the fifth. Kopach hit an RBI double to push the lead to 5-3. With runners on second and third and nobody out, the Salukis failed to score on their first two chances, but Drew Curtis hit a clutch two-out, two-run single, giving SIU what turned out to be the deciding runs.

Illinois State (9-13, 0-2 MVC) rallied with a run in the seventh inning to get within 7-4. With the bases loaded, Grey Epps took a two-hopper deep behind the third-base bag and made a laser throw to first base to get the third out and save another run.

"Grey Epps is a special, special defender," Henderson said. "The bases were loaded, and the ball backed him up. He wasn't going to beat the guy to (third base), and most players would have tried to step on it. So not only was it a good play physically to make that throw, it was a great play mentally."

Then in the eighth inning, the Redbirds scored another run to get within 7-5 and still had the bases loaded with nobody out. Allen Montgomery got a strikeout and a 4-6-3 double play to limit that damage.

"That was the ballgame," Henderson said of the double-play ball. "It was their leadoff guy, who can really run. We let them sneak back in it and gave them life, but that double play ball was huge."

Nursing a two-run lead, the Salukis again turned to Netemeyer, who shut the door again with a perfect ninth inning.

"I talked to Coach Finigan at length. Do you throw the guy out there for the second time in one day?" Henderson said. "(Netemeyer) is one of the few guys we can do that with. He's tough enough, and he wanted the baseball."

SIU got two good starting pitching performances from Michael Baird and Jamison Steege. Baird went seven innings and allowed four runs on eight hits. Steege pitched into the seventh and allowed just three hits, but the Redbirds scratched out four runs.

"I think both of them would tell you that they didn't have their best stuff, and they both pitched late into the game and got wins for us," Henderson said. "That's a credit to them, their toughness, and their experience. They battled and competed on the road and gave us a chance to win the ballgames."

SIU trailed in both games before coming back to win. Southern improved to 11-4 in its last 15 games and has won four in a row. The Salukis have come from behind in six of their last seven wins.

"We don't panic," Henderson said. "We've had a lot of late-inning success. We've had comeback wins. Everyone still felt really good about it. Those were great two-out ABs (in the eighth inning of the first game), first by Kopach, and then Blackfan worked a great AB left-on-left."

The Salukis will go for a sweep of Illinois State on Saturday at 2 p.m. Brad Harrison will start for Southern Illinois, which is looking to sweep Illinois State for a second-straight season.

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