Friday, March 22
Carbondale, Ill.
1 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
12-8
9
vs
8
Morehead State
16-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Morehead State
0
0
0
2
3
0
3
0
0
8
12
3
Southern Illinois
2
2
1
0
3
1
0
0
X
9
11
2
Photo by: Will Becque
Salukis pull out series opener vs. Morehead, 9-8
03/22/2019 | 5:36:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team withstood two big rallies from Morehead State to take the series opener from the Eagles, 9-8. SIU snapped MSU's six-game winning streak and improved to 9-1 at Itchy Jones Stadium this year with the win over the preseason Ohio Valley Conference favorites.Â
"That's our best day of the year offensively, and that's the type of offensive club we have to be," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We bunted the ball; we put pressure on people. We struck out with a runner at third one time; but other than that, we picked people up. If a guy had a bad AB, the next guy had a good AB. We hit balls where they were pitched; we used the whole yard."
SIU (12-8) jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead with two runs in the first, two in the second, and one more in the third. Aiden McMahan and Ian Walters each started their day 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBIs to stake SIU to the lead. Morehead State (16-6) fought right back with five unanswered runs to tie the game.Â
Arguably the most important sequence for SIU came at that point. After the Eagles tied the game with three quick runs in the fifth, they still had two on and one out, but SIU starter Dylan Givens induced a double-play ball to keep the game tied. The Salukis followed with a three-run bottom half, started by McMahan's solo homer and extended with Addison Fugitt's sac fly and Grey Epps's bases-loaded walk. Then, Givens came right back and threw a scoreless sixth, securing his third win of the season.
"We worked hard the last two days on hitting balls where they are pitched, hitting the ball in the middle of the field and (opposite field), and keeping the ball out of the air, not hitting routine fly balls. I think that paid off today," Henderson said.
The Eagles, who rank seventh in all of NCAA baseball in team batting average and 12th in scoring, made one more run at the game in the seventh. A single, walk and an error loaded the bases with no outs. Justin Yeager nearly got out of it, with back-to-back strikeouts against the middle of Morehead's order. But a two-out walk was followed by a two-run single to get Morehead within 9-8. Yeager kept Southern in front with a ground ball to end the inning.Â
"When you have a lead, you have to make them earn everything," Henderson said. "That's one of the best, if not the best, offensive club we will see all year."
McMahan paced Southern's offense with a 4-for-5 day with two doubles and a homer. He was a triple shy of the cycle. McMahan entered the game ranked third in the nation in lowest strikeout rate, and he left the game with his fifth multi-hit game in his last seven starts.Â
"He's a Southern Illinois guy; he just has that toughness," Henderson said of McMahan. "I mean this in the most complimentary way: he's just a dirtbag. He doesn't care what it looks like; he just grinds and grinds and grinds and tries to find a way. He has worked really hard. Early on, he wasn't playing much, and he didn't pout and didn't mope. He just kept working. I know day-in and day-out he's going to give quality ABs. He's going to battle. If you battle, grind a compete, you can help out."
Southern Illinois will try to take the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. Blake Begner will take the mound for SIU.Â
"That's our best day of the year offensively, and that's the type of offensive club we have to be," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "We bunted the ball; we put pressure on people. We struck out with a runner at third one time; but other than that, we picked people up. If a guy had a bad AB, the next guy had a good AB. We hit balls where they were pitched; we used the whole yard."
SIU (12-8) jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead with two runs in the first, two in the second, and one more in the third. Aiden McMahan and Ian Walters each started their day 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBIs to stake SIU to the lead. Morehead State (16-6) fought right back with five unanswered runs to tie the game.Â
Arguably the most important sequence for SIU came at that point. After the Eagles tied the game with three quick runs in the fifth, they still had two on and one out, but SIU starter Dylan Givens induced a double-play ball to keep the game tied. The Salukis followed with a three-run bottom half, started by McMahan's solo homer and extended with Addison Fugitt's sac fly and Grey Epps's bases-loaded walk. Then, Givens came right back and threw a scoreless sixth, securing his third win of the season.
"We worked hard the last two days on hitting balls where they are pitched, hitting the ball in the middle of the field and (opposite field), and keeping the ball out of the air, not hitting routine fly balls. I think that paid off today," Henderson said.
The Eagles, who rank seventh in all of NCAA baseball in team batting average and 12th in scoring, made one more run at the game in the seventh. A single, walk and an error loaded the bases with no outs. Justin Yeager nearly got out of it, with back-to-back strikeouts against the middle of Morehead's order. But a two-out walk was followed by a two-run single to get Morehead within 9-8. Yeager kept Southern in front with a ground ball to end the inning.Â
"When you have a lead, you have to make them earn everything," Henderson said. "That's one of the best, if not the best, offensive club we will see all year."
McMahan paced Southern's offense with a 4-for-5 day with two doubles and a homer. He was a triple shy of the cycle. McMahan entered the game ranked third in the nation in lowest strikeout rate, and he left the game with his fifth multi-hit game in his last seven starts.Â
"He's a Southern Illinois guy; he just has that toughness," Henderson said of McMahan. "I mean this in the most complimentary way: he's just a dirtbag. He doesn't care what it looks like; he just grinds and grinds and grinds and tries to find a way. He has worked really hard. Early on, he wasn't playing much, and he didn't pout and didn't mope. He just kept working. I know day-in and day-out he's going to give quality ABs. He's going to battle. If you battle, grind a compete, you can help out."
Southern Illinois will try to take the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. Blake Begner will take the mound for SIU.Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Givens, Dylan (3-1)
L: BAUMGART, Josh (1-1)
S: McDaniel, Trey (7)
Batting:
2B: HAMMON, Jake 1 ; SNYDER, Trevor 1
RBI: HAMMON, Jake 2 ; SNYDER, Trevor 1 ; FAIN, Hunter 1 ; LAYNE, Ryan 1 ; PERONI, Dom 1 ; SELLS, Arthur 2
Base Running:
RUNS: LEONARD, Reid 1 ; PAULY, Connor 1 ; HAMMON, Jake 2 ; SNYDER, Trevor 2 ; SELLS, Arthur 1 ; BOYD, Zach 1
SB: PAULY, Connor 1
Batting:
2B: Walters, Ian 2 ; McMahan, Aiden 2
HR: McMahan, Aiden 1
RBI: Walters, Ian 2 ; Epps, Grey 2 ; McMahan, Aiden 3 ; Fugitt, Addison 2
SH: Fugitt, Addison 1
SF: Fugitt, Addison 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vasic, Nikola 2 ; Epps, Grey 1 ; Lyon, Alex 1 ; McMahan, Aiden 2 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Butkiewicz, Colin 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1
SB: Epps, Grey 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1
HBP: Weber, J.T. 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
4
RBI
3
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball9.21.25 | Saluki Radio Postgame at SEMO - Vinson Davis
Sunday, September 21
9.21.25 | Saluki Radio Postgame at SEMO - DJ Williams
Sunday, September 21
9.21.25 | Saluki Radio Postgame at SEMO - Chris Presto
Sunday, September 21
9.21.25 | Saluki Radio Postgame at SEMO - Nick Hill
Sunday, September 21