Southern Illinois University
7-5
Northern Illinois
3-10
Baseball drops Game Two of series versus Northern Illinois
03/09/2019 | 10:06:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Northern Illinois recorded a season-high 20 hits in a 17-2 win over Southern Illinois in game two of a three-game series at Itchy Jones Stadium on Saturday. The teams will play the rubber match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Huskies (3-10) were led offensively by left fielder Kam Smith, who was 4-for-6 with three runs scored and catcher Jake Dunham, who hit a seventh inning grand slam off Saluki reliever Jared Kengott.
Right-hander Dylan Givens (2-1) got the start for the Salukis (7-5) and was touched up for five runs in four innings. In his previous three starts, Givens allowed only four runs in 20.1 innings pitched.
"He just had a bad night," said SIU head coach Ken Henderson. "He's been awfully good for us. Matter of fact, he's had three good weekends in a row. It just wasn't his night. He got behind hitters and left a lot of balls up in the zone. That's not him."
Meanwhile, NIU starter Michael Lasiewicz (2-2) had his best outing of the year. A hard-throwing right-hander with a low-to-mid 90s fastball, he allowed just three hits in 6.0 innings and struck out 10.
"That's the best arm we've seen all year," Henderson noted. "You look at his numbers and they weren't real good coming in, but he was down in the zone and didn't give us a lot to hit. Once you get down 5-0 early in the ballgame, then you start pressing."
The offensive highlight of the game for SIU was a solo homer by Alex Lyon in the fifth inning, and Will LaRue continued his recent hot streak by going 2-for-3.
Southern used six pitchers in relief and only two of them — Corey Mitson and Justin Yeager — came through unscathed. In total, the bullpen allowed 12 runs on 14 hits. The staff combined to throw 228 pitches on the night.
"We have to be much better in our bullpen," Henderson said. "We can't throw seven, eight innings from our starters every time out and expect to have a good year."
Compounding matters, SIU's typically stellar defense committed six errors. Southern entered the game having not committed an error in four-straight games and had just nine miscues on the season.
"The good thing about this is we get to play again tomorrow," Henderson said. "We know what kind of club we have and we know what kind of club we've been. If you're going to play the game, if you're going to be an athlete, you're going to have days like this."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: LASIEWICZ, Michael (2-2)
L: Givens, Dylan (2-1)
Batting:
2B: LONTEEN, Dylan 1 ; RODRIGUEZ, Alex 1
HR: DUNHAM, Jake 1 ; JANDROWSKI, Ty 1
RBI: DROBUSHEVICH, Nick 3 ; JOYCE, Brendan 2 ; DUNHAM, Jake 4 ; SMITH, Kam 1 ; JANDROWSKI, Ty 3 ; MUTTER, Josh 2
Base Running:
RUNS: DROBUSHEVICH, Nick 1 ; JOYCE, Brendan 1 ; SZCZASNY, Tommy 2 ; DUNHAM, Jake 2 ; LONTEEN, Dylan 1 ; MCKERMITT, Paddy 1 ; SMITH, Kam 3 ; LARSON, Jordan 1 ; JANDROWSKI, Ty 1 ; MUTTER, Josh 2 ; RODRIGUEZ, Alex 2
SB: JOYCE, Brendan 1
HBP: LONTEEN, Dylan 1
Batting:
2B: Epps, Grey 1
HR: Lyon, Alex 1
RBI: Walters, Ian 1 ; Lyon, Alex 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Lyon, Alex 1
CS: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Walters, Ian 1
HBP: Vasic, Nikola 1
