Valpo evens series with 6-2 win

Saturday, April 7

Carbondale, Ill.

2 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

16-14, 3-2

Valparaiso

9-17, 2-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Valparaiso	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	1	0	6	11	0
Southern Illinois	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	1

04/07/2018 | 7:56:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Valparaiso used a complete game from starting pitcher Trey Ferketic to beat Southern Illinois 6-2 and even the series. The teams will play the rubber game at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Itchy Jones Stadium.

"We weren't very good in any area of the game," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We gave them five outs in the first inning. We weren't good on defense. We walked eight guys, and we weren't good on offense. We had a bad day. That happens. If you're going to play baseball, you're going to have a bad day every now and then."

The game started precariously for SIU (16-14, 3-2 MVC) when a fly ball was missed in shallow center. That run came in to score and give Valpo (9-17, 2-3 MVC) the early 1-0 lead. Logan Blackfan opened the second inning with a double, and Drew Curtis hit a two-run home run to give SIU a 2-1 lead. The Crusaders got a three-run homer in the fifth and then took advantage of a single and three walks—the last walk forced in a run to give Valpo a 5-2 lead.

That's all Valpo starter Trey Ferketic would need. He threw 130 pitches and went the distance in the win. Southern got nine hits but couldn't string anything together, and Ferketic only issued two walks to stay out of any serious trouble.

"Credit their guy, too," Henderson said. "He walked two guys all day. When he got a lead, he made us beat him, and we didn't do it. That's what you want from a starter, to get a lead and throw strikes. Give them some credit."

On the other side, SIU's staff issued eight walks, its most in the last 17 games. The Salukis got out of trouble several times, stranding 12 Valpo runners on base; but combined with 11 Valpo hits, the Crusaders were able to even the series.

"We can't keep putting ourselves in those predicaments," Henderson said. "The story of the day on the mound was walks."

Addison Fugitt and Austin Ulick each had multi-hit games, going 2-for-4. Nikola Vasic had his 27-game reached-base streak snapped, and Connor Kopach was held without a hit in back-to-back games for the first time all season. Valpo, which entered the series with the lowest fielding percentage in the MVC, played error-free in its win.

"We didn't have very good approaches at the plate," Henderson said. "We rolled over a lot of balls and beat a lot of balls into the ground pull side. Our approach is to stay inside the ball and play in the middle of the field. We didn't do a good job of that."

The Salukis lost for just the second time in the last eight games. Still, Southern enters Sunday with a chance to open MVC play with back-to-back outright series wins for the first time since 1999. Brad Harrison will start at pitcher for Southern Illinois.

"Our effort was good. I didn't see anything wrong with that. Our guys were ready," Henderson said. "I told our guys, it's over. We can't do anything about it. We had a bad day. Bad days happen. We'll get ready to get them tomorrow."