Friday, April 27
Evansville, Ind.
6 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
22-20, 5-5
2
at
0
Evansville
7-28, 1-9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
2
7
1
Evansville
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
1
Baird shuts out Evansville, 2-0
04/27/2018 | 10:01:00 | Baseball
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Southern Illinois starting pitcher Michael Baird pitched a complete-game shutout, leading SIU to a 2-0 win in the series opener at Evansville. Baird set a career high with 12 strikeouts and faced just six batters more than the minimum.
"Michael Baird was as good as he's been all year," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "He was phenomenal on a night that he had to be. We had an off night offensively. We didn't put together many quality at-bats with runners in scoring position. In six innings, we had runners at third base. We left the bases loaded three or four times. We needed Michael to pick us up, and he did it."
Evansville (7-28, 1-9 MVC) led off the game with a grounder that took a bad hop and turned into a double—the only hit Baird would allow until the fifth inning. He struck out six through the first three innings and finished the game with a career-high 12 strikeouts against just one walk.
"I only have five guaranteed starts left, so I just tried to have fun at the ballpark," Baird said. "I was playing catch and felt a little goofy; but once I got done with my pregame bullpen, I felt locked in. I haven't been a big strikeout guy. Once I got through three innings with six strikeouts, I knew I had my stuff rolling. It was a fun day to battle."
SIU (22-20, 5-5 MVC) had traffic on the base paths all game long and went 4-for-5 stealing bases, but the Salukis went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Logan Blackfan broke a scoreless tie with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning. In the ninth inning, Alex Lyon singled and stole second and third, setting up Hunter Anderson's RBI groundout to provide some insurance.
"That's two game in a row we've done that," Henderson said of SIU's offensive struggles with runners on base. "It's something we need to address. I think it's our guys trying too hard. Guys were relaxed and having good ABs. Our running game was really good. We were getting guys into scoring position, then all of the sudden, things would change. We just have to relax and quit trying to do to much in those situations."
Baird entered the ninth inning with less than 100 pitches and completed the shutout in just 104 pitches, 78 for strikes (75 percent).
"No-brainer," Henderson said of the decision to let Baird complete the shutout. "He was in total command and his pitch count was good. His slider was so sharp tonight. He was throwing strikes. It wasn't even a discussion. We didn't talk about it. He was cruising and in complete command."
Logan Blackfan drew two walks but saw his hitting streak end at 21 games, the fourth-longest hitting streak in school history. Lyon went 3-for-5 with three stolen bases and a run scored. Kenton Crawford went 2-for-3 and also scored a run. SIU improved to 18-4 against unranked teams since March 5.
Southern Illinois will go for the series win on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Braun Stadium. Jamison Steege will take the mound for Southern.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Baird, Michael (4-3)
L: Ruesch, Austin (0-2)
Batting:
RBI: Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Anderson, Hunter 1
SH: Kopach, Connor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lyon, Alex 1 ; Crawford, Kenton 1
SB: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Lyon, Alex 3
CS: Crawford, Kenton 1
HBP: Ulick, Austin 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
Batting:
2B: Horstmeier, Dalton 1 ; Tanous, Andrew 1
SH: Beilsmith, Troy 2
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
cf/rf
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
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