Saturday, March 16
Champaign, Ill.
12 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
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Illinois
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Southern Illinois
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Illinois
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Photo by: Andy Wenstrand
Salukis drop two heartbreakers at No. 29 Illinois
03/16/2019 | 6:35:00 | Baseball
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team dropped a pair of one-run games at No. 29 Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Illinois Field. SIU held 4-3 leads in the seventh inning of the opener and the eighth inning of the second game, but Illinois rallied to win each game 5-4.Â
"I thought we battled hard for 18 innings and gave ourselves chances to win," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We just couldn't find a way to finish. We made a few too many mistakes down the stretch; but again, we battled our tails off all day. That was a tough loss in Game 1, and we were down 3-0 in Game 2, but we came back and put ourselves in position to win that game. We didn't quit; we just have to execute better down the stretch."
Nikola Vasic had the big swings in each game for SIU (10-7). Trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning, Vasic hit a two-out, two-run home run to put SIU ahead 4-3. Illinois (12-3) tied the game in the bottom half of the seventh with an unearned run and won on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth. In the second game, SIU trailed 3-0 in the eighth inning but got new life when Addison Fugitt's speed forced an Illinois error to score a run and extend the inning. Vasic hit a bases-clearing triple to give SIU a 4-3 lead.Â
"He was worked really hard to make adjustments," Henderson said of Vasic. "He had a great day offensively and had big swings in each game to give us a chance to win. We have to get some other guys going. We left some runs out there and need to have better ABs in those situations. We gave ourselves a chance to win; we just have to learn to finish."
Illinois, which is ranked No. 29 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, tied the second game with a one-out RBI double by Jack Yalowitz in the bottom of the eighth. After the Illini loaded the bases, a passed ball gave the Illini the lead.Â
SIU starters Brad Harrison and Dylan Givens each pitched well. Harrison allowed just six hits and a walk in seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned). Illinois tallied five hits against Givens in the first two innings, but the junior righty limited the Illini to just two runs. After that, Givens allowed only two hits over his final four innings of work.Â
"Brad never really got loose. He looked tight, but he did a phenomenal job battling through a tough day," Henderson said. "His velocity was down, but he pitched his tail end off and gave us a chance to win a ballgame. Dylan did a great job adjusting. The first couple innings, he was behind hitters. About the third inning, he started pitching; he was mixing speeds and hitting spots. He did a really good job."
Vasic led the offense, going 3-for-7 with a triple, home run and 5 RBIs. Grey Epps went 3-for-8 with a double and triple. Southern's running game continued to roll, piling up six stolen bases against an Illinois team that had allowed just five total stolen bases in its first 13 games. In the bullpen, Justin Yeager pitched a scoreless eighth in the first game, and Noah Farmer got out of a runner-on-third, one-out jam in the second game with a strikeout and flyout to the Illini 2-3 hitters.Â
Illinois, which tied its best 15-game start in the last 30 years, took advantage of SIU miscues. In the second game, SIU failed to turn a pair of would-be double play balls, which both resulted in Illinois runs. In the doubleheader, Illinois scored a run on just one single in three separate innings.
"We had a couple errors and a couple base running mistakes. The little things add up. The exciting thing is that physically, we can play with them. We just have to learn to finish," Henderson said.
SIU has a chance to salvage a game in the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.Â
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"I thought we battled hard for 18 innings and gave ourselves chances to win," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We just couldn't find a way to finish. We made a few too many mistakes down the stretch; but again, we battled our tails off all day. That was a tough loss in Game 1, and we were down 3-0 in Game 2, but we came back and put ourselves in position to win that game. We didn't quit; we just have to execute better down the stretch."
Nikola Vasic had the big swings in each game for SIU (10-7). Trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning, Vasic hit a two-out, two-run home run to put SIU ahead 4-3. Illinois (12-3) tied the game in the bottom half of the seventh with an unearned run and won on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth. In the second game, SIU trailed 3-0 in the eighth inning but got new life when Addison Fugitt's speed forced an Illinois error to score a run and extend the inning. Vasic hit a bases-clearing triple to give SIU a 4-3 lead.Â
"He was worked really hard to make adjustments," Henderson said of Vasic. "He had a great day offensively and had big swings in each game to give us a chance to win. We have to get some other guys going. We left some runs out there and need to have better ABs in those situations. We gave ourselves a chance to win; we just have to learn to finish."
Illinois, which is ranked No. 29 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, tied the second game with a one-out RBI double by Jack Yalowitz in the bottom of the eighth. After the Illini loaded the bases, a passed ball gave the Illini the lead.Â
SIU starters Brad Harrison and Dylan Givens each pitched well. Harrison allowed just six hits and a walk in seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned). Illinois tallied five hits against Givens in the first two innings, but the junior righty limited the Illini to just two runs. After that, Givens allowed only two hits over his final four innings of work.Â
"Brad never really got loose. He looked tight, but he did a phenomenal job battling through a tough day," Henderson said. "His velocity was down, but he pitched his tail end off and gave us a chance to win a ballgame. Dylan did a great job adjusting. The first couple innings, he was behind hitters. About the third inning, he started pitching; he was mixing speeds and hitting spots. He did a really good job."
Vasic led the offense, going 3-for-7 with a triple, home run and 5 RBIs. Grey Epps went 3-for-8 with a double and triple. Southern's running game continued to roll, piling up six stolen bases against an Illinois team that had allowed just five total stolen bases in its first 13 games. In the bullpen, Justin Yeager pitched a scoreless eighth in the first game, and Noah Farmer got out of a runner-on-third, one-out jam in the second game with a strikeout and flyout to the Illini 2-3 hitters.Â
Illinois, which tied its best 15-game start in the last 30 years, took advantage of SIU miscues. In the second game, SIU failed to turn a pair of would-be double play balls, which both resulted in Illinois runs. In the doubleheader, Illinois scored a run on just one single in three separate innings.
"We had a couple errors and a couple base running mistakes. The little things add up. The exciting thing is that physically, we can play with them. We just have to learn to finish," Henderson said.
SIU has a chance to salvage a game in the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sefcik, Quinten (1-0)
L: Yeager, Justin (0-1)
Batting:
2B: LaRue, Will 1 ; Butkiewicz, Colin 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
3B: Epps, Grey 1
HR: Vasic, Nikola 1
RBI: Vasic, Nikola 2 ; Epps, Grey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; LaRue, Will 1 ; Butkiewicz, Colin 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
SB: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; LaRue, Will 1 ; Walters, Ian 1 ; Lyon, Alex 1
CS: LaRue, Will 1
Batting:
2B: Yalowitz, Jack 1
HR: Massey, Michael 1
RBI: Massey, Michael 1 ; Van Scoy, Grant 2 ; Campbell, Jacob 2
SH: Van Scoy, Grant 1
SF: Campbell, Jacob 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Massey, Michael 1 ; Sarver, Kellen 1 ; Yalowitz, Jack 1 ; Michalak, Michael 1 ; Craan, David 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
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