Friday, May 11
Springfield, Mo.
6:30 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
25-24, 8-8
3
at
5
Missouri State
31-14, 14-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
8
2
Missouri State
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
2
X
5
6
0
Bears win pitching duel to take the series opener
05/11/2018 | 11:00:00 | Baseball
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Missouri State won the series opener against Southern Illinois 5-3 on Friday night at Hammons Field. SIU loaded the bases in the ninth inning, but a groundout gave Missouri State (31-14, 14-2 MVC) its 22nd consecutive regular season home MVC win at Hammons Field.
"It was a good college baseball game," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "That was probably the best energy and effort we've had in weeks. I'm proud of them for that."
The pitching matchup featured SIU's Michael Baird and MSU's Dylan Coleman. Baird leads the league in ERA and Coleman is projected to go high in the 2018 Major League draft. Both pitchers lived up to the billing. Coleman struck out 13 in eight innings.
"Those are two of the best—if not the best—pitchers in the league," Henderson said. "They were both outstanding all night."
Baird matched him. He struck out nine, and he became the first pitcher in the last two seasons to strike out MSU's future first-round draft pick and All-American Jeremy Eierman three times in a game, and he did it on just 11 pitches.
"He's really good, just look at his numbers," MSU head coach Keith Guttin said of Baird. "He beat us here two years ago. Baird is one of the best pitchers in the league, no question."
SIU (25-24, 8-8 MVC) made two costly errors in the loss. In the third inning, a throwing error on a routine grounder led the Missouri State's first run. The Bears added a wind-aided two-run homer in the sixth inning. In the eighth, SIU left fielder Kenton Crawford dropped a pop up with two outs that led to two more unearned runs.
"Obviously, we made a couple mistakes," Henderson said. "College kids are going to make mistakes."
SIU had an early 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. After two walks, Crawford stole third on a pickoff attempt to second base. Connor Kopach drove him home with a sac fly. Then, on a hit-and-run, Logan Blackfan went the opposite way for a single, and Nikola Vasic scored all the way from first base.
Trailing 5-2 heading into the ninth inning, SIU nearly battled all the way back. Blackfan doubled to the opposite field and scored on an Austin Ulick RBI single. Pinch-hit singles by Hunter Anderson and Drew Curtis loaded the bases with two outs, putting the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on base, but a grounder ended the game.
"I could not be more proud of the way we battled and competed all night," Henderson said. "Guys continued to battle right to the end. We can clean a couple things up and build on that, and we'll be fine."
Missouri State maintained a one-game lead in the MVC regular-season standings over Dallas Baptist.
SIU will try to even the series on Saturday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m., and Brad Harrison will take the ball for the Salukis.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Coleman,Dylan (8-2)
L: Baird, Michael (5-4)
S: Sechler,Connor (6)
Batting:
2B: Kopach, Connor 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Kengott, Jared 1
RBI: Kopach, Connor 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Ulick, Austin 1
SF: Kopach, Connor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Crawford, Kenton 1
SB: Kengott, Jared 1 ; Crawford, Kenton 1
Batting:
2B: Whetstone,Ben 1 ; Ruff,Landan 1
HR: Brown,Matt 1
RBI: Eierman,Jeremy 1 ; Brown,Matt 3
SH: Duffy,Jack 1
SF: Eierman,Jeremy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Whetstone,Ben 2 ; Duffy,Jack 1 ; Brown,Matt 1 ; Geha,Logan 1
HBP: Geha,Logan 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF/LHP
/ BaseballINF
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/ Baseball
INF
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