Tuesday, March 19
Carbondale, Ill.
4 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
11-8
7
vs
6
SIU Edwardsville
6-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
SIUE
1
0
0
1
1
3
0
0
0
6
9
1
Southern Illinois
2
1
0
0
2
1
1
0
X
7
11
2
Salukis gut out 7-6 win over SIU Edwardsville
03/19/2019 | 9:15:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team scored a run in the seventh and got clutch pitching from the bullpen down the stretch to gut out a 7-6 win over sister school SIU Edwardsville on Tuesday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Salukis improved to 8-1 at home in 2019.
Playing its second-straight game without two of its top offensive players in Will LaRue and Alex Lyon, SIU (11-8) battled through a back-and-forth game that saw four lead changes to earn the win.
"I thought our approach to the game today was as good as it has been in a long time," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We talked to the group yesterday about the adversity we're facing with the injuries. When you face adversity in the game, how are you going to handle that? I thought we did a great job of that today. We had some instances when we gave up runs we probably shouldn't have, but our demeanor didn't change. We kept grinding and battling. A lot of the game today was about make-up and approach to the game. We grinded it out."
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Postgame Interviews » Henderson || Yeager || Vasic
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Southern's offense pounded out 11 hits and scored its most runs in the last six games. Nikola Vasic, Philip Archer, Ian Walters and Aiden McMahan all had multi-hit games. SIUE (6-11) scored in four innings, and the Salukis immediately answered with runs in the bottom half of the inning three times.Â
"I thought it was one of our better (offensive) games of the year, in terms of putting good swings on the ball," Henderson said. "We put some barrels on balls and didn't have anything to show for it. We took better swings. We know we're a better offensive club than we've shown. We have continued to believe and grind and work, and it started showing up today."
Edwardsville took a 1-0 lead on a solo homer in the top of the first, but SIU answered with two runs in the bottom half and a third run in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. SIUE tied the game in the fifth; but again, Southern Illinois answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-3 lead. SIU starter Mason Hiser went five innings for SIU and wasn't as dominant as last week's eight-inning performance, but he limited the Cougars to three runs (two earned) on four hits. He had four strikeouts and no walks.Â
"You're not always going to have your best stuff," Henderson said of Hiser. "To go out and grind and keep us in the ballgame without your best stuff is a credit to him and his make-up."
The game could have turned against SIU in the sixth inning. SIUE started the inning with a hit batter, a two-run homer, a double and a single to tie the game with no outs. Justin Yeager entered into the first-and-third, no-out jam and flipped the game back in SIU's favor. SIUE scored only once on a squeeze play to briefly take a 6-5 lead, but Yeager pitched two innings of no-hit ball; and after SIU came back to take the lead, Yeager earned his first career victory.Â
"I'm happy for him," Henderson said of Yeager. "He's a guy that we have to have. His stuff is the best on the team when he throws strikes and commands the zone. He's not going to get hit hard; it's just a matter of not getting himself in trouble. He has been getting better and better every time out for us, and he's going to have to continue to help us. His role is going to continue to expand."
Vasic tied the game after a one-out single in the sixth inning. He moved to third on a throwing error and scored on Ian Walters RBI single. In the seventh inning, with the bases loaded, Vasic took a pitch off his hand to push across the game-winning run.Â
SIUE threatened in both the eighth and ninth innings. After a leadoff walk in the eighth, freshman righty Sam Grace came in and got a strikeout and double-play ball to end the threat. In the ninth against SIU closer Trey McDaniel, the Cougars got a pair of one-out singles to put the tying run in scoring position with the middle of the lineup coming up, but McDaniel got a strikeout and fly out to end the game and earn his MVC-leading sixth save of the season.Â
Southern Illinois improved to 4-1 in mid-week games and 8-1 at Itchy Jones Stadium this season. The Salukis host preseason OVC favorite Morehead State for a three-game series this weekend. After Friday's game, the program will host its annual fish fry at the Carbondale Civic Center.Â
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Playing its second-straight game without two of its top offensive players in Will LaRue and Alex Lyon, SIU (11-8) battled through a back-and-forth game that saw four lead changes to earn the win.
"I thought our approach to the game today was as good as it has been in a long time," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We talked to the group yesterday about the adversity we're facing with the injuries. When you face adversity in the game, how are you going to handle that? I thought we did a great job of that today. We had some instances when we gave up runs we probably shouldn't have, but our demeanor didn't change. We kept grinding and battling. A lot of the game today was about make-up and approach to the game. We grinded it out."
---
Postgame Interviews » Henderson || Yeager || Vasic
---
Southern's offense pounded out 11 hits and scored its most runs in the last six games. Nikola Vasic, Philip Archer, Ian Walters and Aiden McMahan all had multi-hit games. SIUE (6-11) scored in four innings, and the Salukis immediately answered with runs in the bottom half of the inning three times.Â
"I thought it was one of our better (offensive) games of the year, in terms of putting good swings on the ball," Henderson said. "We put some barrels on balls and didn't have anything to show for it. We took better swings. We know we're a better offensive club than we've shown. We have continued to believe and grind and work, and it started showing up today."
Edwardsville took a 1-0 lead on a solo homer in the top of the first, but SIU answered with two runs in the bottom half and a third run in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. SIUE tied the game in the fifth; but again, Southern Illinois answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-3 lead. SIU starter Mason Hiser went five innings for SIU and wasn't as dominant as last week's eight-inning performance, but he limited the Cougars to three runs (two earned) on four hits. He had four strikeouts and no walks.Â
"You're not always going to have your best stuff," Henderson said of Hiser. "To go out and grind and keep us in the ballgame without your best stuff is a credit to him and his make-up."
The game could have turned against SIU in the sixth inning. SIUE started the inning with a hit batter, a two-run homer, a double and a single to tie the game with no outs. Justin Yeager entered into the first-and-third, no-out jam and flipped the game back in SIU's favor. SIUE scored only once on a squeeze play to briefly take a 6-5 lead, but Yeager pitched two innings of no-hit ball; and after SIU came back to take the lead, Yeager earned his first career victory.Â
"I'm happy for him," Henderson said of Yeager. "He's a guy that we have to have. His stuff is the best on the team when he throws strikes and commands the zone. He's not going to get hit hard; it's just a matter of not getting himself in trouble. He has been getting better and better every time out for us, and he's going to have to continue to help us. His role is going to continue to expand."
Vasic tied the game after a one-out single in the sixth inning. He moved to third on a throwing error and scored on Ian Walters RBI single. In the seventh inning, with the bases loaded, Vasic took a pitch off his hand to push across the game-winning run.Â
SIUE threatened in both the eighth and ninth innings. After a leadoff walk in the eighth, freshman righty Sam Grace came in and got a strikeout and double-play ball to end the threat. In the ninth against SIU closer Trey McDaniel, the Cougars got a pair of one-out singles to put the tying run in scoring position with the middle of the lineup coming up, but McDaniel got a strikeout and fly out to end the game and earn his MVC-leading sixth save of the season.Â
Southern Illinois improved to 4-1 in mid-week games and 8-1 at Itchy Jones Stadium this season. The Salukis host preseason OVC favorite Morehead State for a three-game series this weekend. After Friday's game, the program will host its annual fish fry at the Carbondale Civic Center.Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Yeager, Justin (1-1)
L: DREWRY, Adam (1-2)
S: McDaniel, Trey (6)
Batting:
2B: WOODCOCK, Dustin 1 ; GOECKS, Aaron 1
3B: GOECKS, Aaron 1
HR: WOODCOCK, Dustin 1 ; PERKINS, Justin 1
RBI: WOODCOCK, Dustin 2 ; PERKINS, Justin 2 ; GOECKS, Aaron 1 ; ROSS, Jordan 1
SH: ROSS, Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: GILTZ, Eric 1 ; WOODCOCK, Dustin 1 ; ELGUEZABAL, Raul 2 ; PERKINS, Justin 1 ; GOECKS, Aaron 1
HBP: ELGUEZABAL, Raul 2
Batting:
2B: Walters, Ian 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1
RBI: Vasic, Nikola 2 ; Walters, Ian 1 ; McMahan, Aiden 1 ; Weber, J.T. 2 ; Hudson, Brad 1
SF: Weber, J.T. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Walters, Ian 1 ; Epps, Grey 1 ; McMahan, Aiden 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Crawford, Kenton 1
SB: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Crawford, Kenton 1
CS: Hudson, Brad 1
HBP: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Epps, Grey 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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RHP
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OF
/ Baseball
RHP
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RHP
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