Baseball falls in extras to Nicholls State

Saturday, February 16

Thibodaux, La.

2:30 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

1-1

Nicholls

1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	1
Nicholls	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	5	0

02/16/2019 | 8:30:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: By Alex Underwood, SIUSalukis.com

THIBODAUX, La. — Southern Illinois rallied from a two-run deficit to bring game two of the season into extra innings, but Nicholls State (1-1) hit a walk-off home run in the 14th inning to win 3-2.

"I have talked a lot about the makeup of this club and I couldn't be more proud of everything we did today," head coach Ken Henderson said. "We played hard and tough, but it just didn't work out."

Despite the 14-inning marathon, SIU (1-1) only used three pitchers, who all impressed in their season debuts. The pitching staff gave up only five hits and combined for 11 strikeouts.

Dylan Givens earned the weekend start for the Salukis and gave up two earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. The transfer out of John A. Logan gave up a mere two hits and walked three Colonels.

Freshman pitcher Sam Grace came out of the pen for Givens in the sixth with a runner on second and one out. Grace went on to pickoff the Nicholls base runner at second and then forced a fly out to right field to keep the game at 2-0. He went on to pitch three-consecutive scoreless innings for SIU. Grace was replaced in the 10th after allowing two walks to open the inning.

Matthew Steidl (0-1) pitched the remainder of the game for Southern. The freshman hurler was dominant, as he gave up only one hit and punched out seven batters in an even four innings of work. He forced inning-ending double plays in 10th and 11th innings to keep the game tied, 2-2. Steidl consistently fooled Colonel hitters and struck out six-straight batters at one point. His lone hit given up was a home run to left field from Colonel hitter Dane Simon that ended the game.

"7.2 innings of two-hit ball from guys in their first college baseball game is exciting," Henderson said. "That was crunch time and they were in with the game on the line. To do what they did is very exciting for us."

The Nicholls pitching staff matched the Salukis success on the mound. Senior starting pitcher Jacob Bedevian went 8.1 innings and kept the SIU offense scoreless until the seventh. The righty also had four strikeouts and induced 16 groundouts. Relief pitcher Beau Balado (1-0) pitched 4.2 innings of scoreless ball to earn the decision for the Colonels.

The SIU offense was held in check for the majority of the game, but they managed to inch closer in the late innings.

In the seventh, Ian Walters reached base on an infield single. Later in the inning, Phiip Archer drilled a single to left field to score Walters from third. The score reduced the deficit to 2-1. This was the second-straight game that Archer had an RBI single.

In the ninth, the Salukis were down to their last out, but Alex Lyon smacked a 3-2 pitch to right center to score Will LaRue from third, which tied the game, 2-2.

Southern was scoreless in extra innings, but threatened on the bases in the 10th and 13th innings.

SIU had the bases loaded in the 10th with one out, but Nikola Vasic fouled out to first base and LaRue hit a liner to deep left field that was caught at the wall.

In the 13th, LaRue hit a two-out double, but the next SIU batter was retired to end the inning.

"From a head coaching stand point, we just couldn't get anything done offensively," Henderson said. "We can hit and I know that we are gonna get it going offensively because we have have a lot of talented batters. If we continue to play with this kind of demeanor and toughness, then we are gonna be awfully special."

Lyon paced the Saluki offense with a game-high three hits and one RBI. On defense, Vasic had a spectator day at second base, as he made several acrobatic plays and was involved in two of the three double plays turned by Southern.

The Salukis will go for the series win over Nicholls on Sunday. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. and lefty Blake Begner is slated to make his first start on the bump as a Saluki.