Morehead evens series with shutout

Saturday, March 23

Carbondale, Ill.

2 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

12-9

Morehead State

17-6

Morehead State

Southern Illinois

03/23/2019 | 5:38:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Morehead State scored five runs in the third and got a an outstanding pitching performance from Jason Goe to beat Southern Illinois 7-0 on Saturday afternoon and even the series at a game apiece. The rubber game will be Sunday at 1 p.m. in Itchy Jones Stadium.

"We've been playing well; we just didn't have a great day," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "They had a good day, and they beat us. Take the same approach; keep doing the things that have worked for us; and have a better day tomorrow. That's baseball."

Morehead State (17-6) started the third inning with a walk to its leadoff hitter. The Eagles--the nation's 12th-highest scoring team--put down back-to-back bunts with their 2-3 hitters, who were batting .343 and .418 on the season, respectively. Connor Pauly beat the first bunt out for a hit, and Jake Hammon's bunt was thrown away for an error. Three singles later, Morehead held a 5-0 lead.

"That was the biggest play of the game," Henderson said of the error on the sac bunt attempt. "If you can limit it to a one or two-run inning, it's a different game."

Only two of the five runs were earned against SIU starter Blake Begner, who bounced back with three-straight scoreless innings to keep SIU (12-9) in the game. Begner led a mostly positive day from the SIU pitching staff--Begner had a quality start with six innings and three earned runs, and Matt DeSomer and Henry Boeckmann pitched scoreless innings down the stretch.

Southern's offense struggled against Morehead starter Jason Goe, who had missed most of two-straight years with injuries. Goe allowed just four hits in six innings, striking out three and walking none. SIU got runners against Morehead's bullpen but couldn't bring them home, and the Salukis were shut out for the first time in 21 games this year.

"He threw well," Henderson said of Goe. "He didn't give us anything and made us earn everything. He didn't walk a guy all day. That's what we talk about all the time. If you have a lead and throw strikes, you're going to be in good shape. He did that and forced us to have to beat him. We had some good ABs, but couldn't put enough of them together."

J.T. Weber and Grey Epps went 5-for-8 from the plate, but the rest of the lineup went 2-for-25, with Addison Fugitt and Will LaRue hitting doubles in the closing innings.

"We lost a little bit of our aggressiveness, and I told them that we can't do that," Henderson said of the offense. "That's the way we're wired, and that's the way we build. We have to continue to be aggressive, even when we get down early, because that's how we score."

SIU and Morehead State will play the rubber game in the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Mason Hiser will start for Southern Illinois.