Sunday, February 16
Jackson, Miss.
12 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
3-1
7
at
2
Jackson State
1-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
0
4
1
2
0
0
0
0
7
7
0
Jackson State
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
11
1
Salukis take series from Jackson State with 7-2 win
02/16/2020 | 5:20:00 | Baseball
JACKSON, Miss. — The Southern Illinois baseball team beat Jackson State 7-2 to win its opening series of the 2020 season, three games to one. The Salukis (3-1) trailed early, but scored five unanswered runs to take the victory.
"I thought we played good defense and the pitchers threw well," head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We made more mistakes than I thought we would and there are a lot of areas we can practice on next week. We just have to get out in game action and execute while the game is happening. We'll get better as we go. But when you can make those kind of mistakes and still come out on top in the end, you'll take it every single day."
JSU (1-3) proved why they ranked fourth in the nation in batting average (.315) last season, as they turned four-straight hits into one run in the first inning off SIU starting pitcher Kyle Back (1-0). Back rebounded by retiring eight of his next nine batters faced. He faced the minimum in the second and third innings, but gave up three more hits to load the bases in the fourth.
"Kyle (Back) came out and got himself in a little bit of trouble, but he went on to throw about 10 really good pitches with the bases loaded," Rhodes said. "He got out of the jam and managed to settle in for a couple of innings."
Matthew Steidl replaced Back in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and one out. The sophomore got out of the jam unscathed, as he struck out his first batter faced and induced a popup to third base to end the inning.
The Saluki bullpen limited JSU to no runs on just three hits in the remaining five innings. Steidl and Kyle Dixon each threw two scoreless frames, while Trey McDaniel closed the game in the ninth. The trio combined for no walks and five punchouts.
"Steidl came in and looked better than he did compared to his first appearance," Rhodes said. "Dixon was also great for his first time on the mound. Trey came in and did what he usually does to close it out."
Steidl and McDaniel anchored the bullpen all weekend long with two appearances each. The pair allowed only seven hits while striking out seven in 8.2 innings of scoreless baseball.
Patience was the approach for the SIU offense. They had 14 free passes — 10 walks and four hit batters. It was the second-straight game SIU drew 10-plus walks.
The Saluki offense got going in the middle innings, as they scored all seven of their runs from the third to the fifth inning. Philip Archer and Nick Neville led the charge with two-RBI hits. Southern also scored two runs on passed balls and one run on a bases-loaded walk.
"We talked about the need to grind out every single pitch and at-bat with our position guys," Rhodes said. "We thought it would take a lot of runs to come out on top because of how good their offense is. Credit goes to our pitching staff for shutting them down."
A pair of senior infielders led the Salukis offensively over the weekend. Ian Walters was 6-for-15 (.400) at the plate with two doubles and six RBIs in the series. Neville batted .350 in the series with a team-best seven hits.
Saluki Baseball will be in action next Tuesday at Belmont in Nashville, Tenn. for a 4 p.m. game.
"I thought we played good defense and the pitchers threw well," head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We made more mistakes than I thought we would and there are a lot of areas we can practice on next week. We just have to get out in game action and execute while the game is happening. We'll get better as we go. But when you can make those kind of mistakes and still come out on top in the end, you'll take it every single day."
JSU (1-3) proved why they ranked fourth in the nation in batting average (.315) last season, as they turned four-straight hits into one run in the first inning off SIU starting pitcher Kyle Back (1-0). Back rebounded by retiring eight of his next nine batters faced. He faced the minimum in the second and third innings, but gave up three more hits to load the bases in the fourth.
"Kyle (Back) came out and got himself in a little bit of trouble, but he went on to throw about 10 really good pitches with the bases loaded," Rhodes said. "He got out of the jam and managed to settle in for a couple of innings."
Matthew Steidl replaced Back in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and one out. The sophomore got out of the jam unscathed, as he struck out his first batter faced and induced a popup to third base to end the inning.
The Saluki bullpen limited JSU to no runs on just three hits in the remaining five innings. Steidl and Kyle Dixon each threw two scoreless frames, while Trey McDaniel closed the game in the ninth. The trio combined for no walks and five punchouts.
"Steidl came in and looked better than he did compared to his first appearance," Rhodes said. "Dixon was also great for his first time on the mound. Trey came in and did what he usually does to close it out."
Steidl and McDaniel anchored the bullpen all weekend long with two appearances each. The pair allowed only seven hits while striking out seven in 8.2 innings of scoreless baseball.
Patience was the approach for the SIU offense. They had 14 free passes — 10 walks and four hit batters. It was the second-straight game SIU drew 10-plus walks.
The Saluki offense got going in the middle innings, as they scored all seven of their runs from the third to the fifth inning. Philip Archer and Nick Neville led the charge with two-RBI hits. Southern also scored two runs on passed balls and one run on a bases-loaded walk.
"We talked about the need to grind out every single pitch and at-bat with our position guys," Rhodes said. "We thought it would take a lot of runs to come out on top because of how good their offense is. Credit goes to our pitching staff for shutting them down."
A pair of senior infielders led the Salukis offensively over the weekend. Ian Walters was 6-for-15 (.400) at the plate with two doubles and six RBIs in the series. Neville batted .350 in the series with a team-best seven hits.
Saluki Baseball will be in action next Tuesday at Belmont in Nashville, Tenn. for a 4 p.m. game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Back, Kyle (1-0)
L: H. Colon (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Weber, J.T. 1 ; Neville, Nick 1 ; Archer, Philip 1
RBI: Neville, Nick 2 ; Archer, Philip 3
SH: Walters, Ian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weber, J.T. 3 ; Neville, Nick 1 ; Gray, Jake 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Rask, Tony 1
SB: Weber, J.T. 1 ; Neville, Nick 1 ; Fugitt, Addison 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1
CS: Archer, Philip 1
HBP: Walters, Ian 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Fugitt, Addison 2
Batting:
RBI: J. Williams 1 ; K. Luke 1
SH: J. Rodriguez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: C. Newsome 1 ; W. Reyes 1
SB: T. Jones 1
HBP: E. Smith 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
6
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
3
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
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