Southern Illinois University
3-3
Belmont
2-6
Salukis win 13-9 at Belmont
02/27/2019 | 9:40:00 | Baseball
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Southern Illinois bats came alive in a high-scoring 13-9 win over Belmont (2-6) on Wednesday evening at E.S. Rose Park.
"They worked extremely hard the past couple of days and I thought we were outstanding on offense tonight", SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We put a lot of good swings up and had 14 hits, but their were a lot of balls hit hard at the defense as well. It was by far our best offensive performance of the year."
SIU (3-3) ran away with the game early, as the offense plated runs in each of the first three innings.
The Salukis got things going with a five-run first inning against Bruin pitchers Jack Rettig and Max Marcotte.
SIU first got on the scoreboard when Nikola Vasic and Will LaRue executed a double steal, where LaRue stole second and Vasic stole home. Ian Walters then came to the plate and drilled a two-run home run to right center to make it a 3-0 game. Philip Archer and J.T. Weber hit singles later in the inning and Grey Epps scored them both on a two-out single to center field.
The bats stayed hot in the second and third innings.
In the second, Archer blasted a two-out, two-run shot over the right center wall. Grey Epps and Vasic each tallied doubles in the third, which resulted in a run scored and a 9-0 lead. On the day, Archer, Epps and Vasic each recorded a team-high three hits. Prior to the game, only one batter had recorded a three-hit game (Alex Lyon).
"We had a lot of quality two-out and two-strike approaches", Henderson said. "We had some key hits earlier in the game with two strikes and our guys kept battling. I think that this is the offense we can be and we can continue to build off starts like that."
Junior pitcher Mason Hiser made his first start of the season on the mound for SIU. The righty last pitched on March 20, 2018 against SIUE and missed the remainder of the season due to injury. Hiser lasted five innings and shut down the Bruin lineup for the majority of the game, as he gave up a mere two runs on four hits and struck out four batters.
"I was really proud of Mason", Henderson said. "It was his first start in almost a year and for him to give us five quality innings made me extremely happy for him. He has worked so hard coming back from surgery and he earned it today."
In the sixth, SIU took advantage of two Bruin errors to add on to their lead. Alex Lyon got in on the action with an RBI double down the left field line to score Vasic from third. Archer then collected his third and fourth RBI of the game with a two-run single to center field, which scored Lyon and Walters. He would later score on a sacrifice fly to center field from Colin Butkiewicz.
Belmont threatened late in the game with seven unanswered runs off a trio of Saluki pitchers.
SIU turned to Noah Farmer in the top of the sixth and he lasted 0.2 innings. The sophomore gave up four runs (two earned) on one hit and three walks. Sam Grace then controlled the Belmont lineup for the next 2.1 innings, allowing only one run on two hits, while striking out three. Matt DeSomer began the ninth on the mound with a 13-7 lead, but was replaced by Trey McDaniel with one out to go after allowing two runs on two hits and a walk. McDaniel clinched the win for SIU with a strikeout to end the game.
Over the course of the game, SIU displayed their aggressiveness on the bases with a season-high six steals. Both Vasic and LaRue led the Salukis in steals with two. Weber and Epps stole the two other bases.
"In order to get six stolen bases, we have to get the right guys on", Henderson said. "We did that, put some guys in scoring position and it ultimately put some pressure on our opponent."
The victory at Belmont ended a season-opening six-game road stretch. Southern returns home to host Western Illinois from Mar. 1-4 for a three-game series at Itchy Jones Stadium.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hiser, Mason (1-0)
L: Rettig (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Vasic, Nikola 2 ; Lyon, Alex 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
HR: Walters, Ian 1 ; Archer, Philip 1
RBI: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Walters, Ian 3 ; Lyon, Alex 1 ; Archer, Philip 4 ; Butkiewicz, Colin 1 ; Epps, Grey 2
SF: Butkiewicz, Colin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vasic, Nikola 3 ; LaRue, Will 1 ; Walters, Ian 2 ; Lyon, Alex 2 ; Archer, Philip 3 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
SB: Vasic, Nikola 2 ; LaRue, Will 2 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
CS: Epps, Grey 1 ; Fugitt, Addison 1
HBP: Lyon, Alex 1
PO: Lyon, Alex 1
Batting:
HR: Campbell 2
RBI: Ehrhart 2 ; Gardner 2 ; Campbell 3 ; Behrends 1 ; Taylor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ehrhart 1 ; Jarvis 1 ; Gardner 1 ; Adkins 2 ; Campbell 3 ; Behrends 1
CS: Holland 1
HBP: Gardner 1 ; Severance 1
