Sunday, March 1
Morehead, Ky.
12 p.m. CT
Southern Illinois University
7-5
22
at
5
Morehead State
4-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
1
2
0
0
3
7
0
0
9
22
25
0
Morehead State
1
0
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
5
9
3
Salukis take series at Morehead St. with 22-5 win
03/01/2020 | 6:20:00 | Baseball
MOREHEAD, Ky. — The Southern Illinois offense exploded in a 22-5 victory over Morehead State at Allen Field. SIU (7-5) won its second road series of the season and became the first team to beat the Eagles (4-6) in a series at their own park since 2018 (5/17-19/18, #16 Tennessee Tech).
"Sundays at this park are usually high-scoring events," first-year head coach Lance Rhodes said. "The weather was good today and we had an opportunity to put some runs on the board in the middle innings. Our hitters were locked in and I couldn't have asked for anymore out of them."
SIU pounded out 25 hits in the win, which was its most in a game since 2004 (at Murray State, 3/18/04). Eight Salukis recorded two or more hits.
Southern added a season-high 11 extra-base hits. Nick Neville, Grey Epps, Philip Archer and Evan Martin each had multiple-RBI home runs. Epps became the first Saluki in two seasons (Logan Blackfan, 2/18/18) with two home runs in a game. The Salukis came into the series with one home run.
"Hitting is contagious," Rhodes said. "The momentum was building bat-to-bat and we were swinging at really good pitches. We were leaving the ball down and getting balls we could do some damage on. Once we got going, it felt like we couldn't stop. There were really solid at-bats all throughout the lineup today."
The bulk of SIU's 22 runs came in three innings. Southern tacked three runs in the fifth inning, seven in the sixth inning and nine in the ninth inning.
SIU carried a 3-2 lead through three innings, but lost it after Morehead struck for three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
A double from Brad Hudson and a two-run home run from Neville got the Salukis back in front, 6-5, in the top of the fifth inning.
Southern erupted for seven runs on five extra-base hits in the top of the sixth. Austin Ulick, Nick McAlister and Brad Hudson each hit doubles and came around to score. Both Epps and Archer drilled two-run homers.
SIU maintained a 13-5 advantage for the next three innings, but extended its lead once again with a nine-run ninth inning. Eight different Salukis recorded a hit in the inning. Evan Martin highlighted the spurt with a three-run homer, which was his first-career hit at SIU.
"The whole team contributed today and it was awesome to see guys like Nick McAlister and Evan Martin get in there," Rhodes said. "Martin crushed a ball that would go out in every ballpark in the country. We had some guys step up with quality at-bats that have been buying their time on the bench. I'm really proud of the entire group today."
The Saluki pitching staff limited Morehead to a series-low in runs (5) and hits (9). SIU allowed no runs and just one hit from the fifth inning on.
Freshman Mitchell Jackson earned his second-career start and lasted 3.2 innings. He was tagged for four runs on six hits and three walks. Michael Fossali (1-1) got the last out of the fourth inning to earn the decision. Kyle Dixon, Kyle Back and Bennett Shoptaw shutout the Eagle offense in the last five innings. Dixon and Shoptaw threw two scoreless frames each, while Kyle Back got out of a base-loaded jam unscathed in his lone inning of work.
"From Mitchell Jackson on, all of our pitchers were really good," Rhodes said. "A couple of runs given up today are runs that likely stay in the park at other places. To come in here and give up the amount of runs we did today as an entire group was outstanding. They attacked the strike zone and did everything we could ask for."
The Salukis will be back in action on Tuesday at Austin Peay. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT.
Notes: SIU matched last season's win-total in road games (5) … Walters batted 9-for-15 (.600) in the series and collected two-plus hits in each game … Walters extended his hitting streak to nine games … Ulick batted 7-for-12 (.583) in the series and matched a career-high in hits (3) twice … Hudson had a career-high 4 hits … Neville notched a career-high 5 RBI's and extended his on-base streak to 12 games … McAlister tallied his first two-career hits … Hojnar matched a career-best in hits with two … Archer batted 7-for-14 (.500) in the series … Archer has 2 RBI's in three-straight games … Dixon punched out a career-high 3 batters.
"Sundays at this park are usually high-scoring events," first-year head coach Lance Rhodes said. "The weather was good today and we had an opportunity to put some runs on the board in the middle innings. Our hitters were locked in and I couldn't have asked for anymore out of them."
SIU pounded out 25 hits in the win, which was its most in a game since 2004 (at Murray State, 3/18/04). Eight Salukis recorded two or more hits.
Southern added a season-high 11 extra-base hits. Nick Neville, Grey Epps, Philip Archer and Evan Martin each had multiple-RBI home runs. Epps became the first Saluki in two seasons (Logan Blackfan, 2/18/18) with two home runs in a game. The Salukis came into the series with one home run.
"Hitting is contagious," Rhodes said. "The momentum was building bat-to-bat and we were swinging at really good pitches. We were leaving the ball down and getting balls we could do some damage on. Once we got going, it felt like we couldn't stop. There were really solid at-bats all throughout the lineup today."
The bulk of SIU's 22 runs came in three innings. Southern tacked three runs in the fifth inning, seven in the sixth inning and nine in the ninth inning.
SIU carried a 3-2 lead through three innings, but lost it after Morehead struck for three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
A double from Brad Hudson and a two-run home run from Neville got the Salukis back in front, 6-5, in the top of the fifth inning.
Southern erupted for seven runs on five extra-base hits in the top of the sixth. Austin Ulick, Nick McAlister and Brad Hudson each hit doubles and came around to score. Both Epps and Archer drilled two-run homers.
SIU maintained a 13-5 advantage for the next three innings, but extended its lead once again with a nine-run ninth inning. Eight different Salukis recorded a hit in the inning. Evan Martin highlighted the spurt with a three-run homer, which was his first-career hit at SIU.
"The whole team contributed today and it was awesome to see guys like Nick McAlister and Evan Martin get in there," Rhodes said. "Martin crushed a ball that would go out in every ballpark in the country. We had some guys step up with quality at-bats that have been buying their time on the bench. I'm really proud of the entire group today."
The Saluki pitching staff limited Morehead to a series-low in runs (5) and hits (9). SIU allowed no runs and just one hit from the fifth inning on.
Freshman Mitchell Jackson earned his second-career start and lasted 3.2 innings. He was tagged for four runs on six hits and three walks. Michael Fossali (1-1) got the last out of the fourth inning to earn the decision. Kyle Dixon, Kyle Back and Bennett Shoptaw shutout the Eagle offense in the last five innings. Dixon and Shoptaw threw two scoreless frames each, while Kyle Back got out of a base-loaded jam unscathed in his lone inning of work.
"From Mitchell Jackson on, all of our pitchers were really good," Rhodes said. "A couple of runs given up today are runs that likely stay in the park at other places. To come in here and give up the amount of runs we did today as an entire group was outstanding. They attacked the strike zone and did everything we could ask for."
The Salukis will be back in action on Tuesday at Austin Peay. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT.
Notes: SIU matched last season's win-total in road games (5) … Walters batted 9-for-15 (.600) in the series and collected two-plus hits in each game … Walters extended his hitting streak to nine games … Ulick batted 7-for-12 (.583) in the series and matched a career-high in hits (3) twice … Hudson had a career-high 4 hits … Neville notched a career-high 5 RBI's and extended his on-base streak to 12 games … McAlister tallied his first two-career hits … Hojnar matched a career-best in hits with two … Archer batted 7-for-14 (.500) in the series … Archer has 2 RBI's in three-straight games … Dixon punched out a career-high 3 batters.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fossali, Michael (1-1)
L: CONWAY,Cory (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Hudson, Brad 2 ; Hojnar, Sam 2 ; Ulick, Austin 1 ; McAlister, Nick 1
HR: Neville, Nick 1 ; Martin, Evan 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Epps, Grey 2
RBI: Hudson, Brad 2 ; Neville, Nick 5 ; Martin, Evan 3 ; Archer, Philip 2 ; Ulick, Austin 1 ; Rask, Tony 1 ; Epps, Grey 4 ; McAlister, Nick 1
SH: Weber, J.T. 1
SF: Neville, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walters, Ian 4 ; Hudson, Brad 3 ; Neville, Nick 2 ; Martin, Evan 1 ; Archer, Philip 2 ; Danielewicz, Lucas 2 ; Hojnar, Sam 1 ; Ulick, Austin 1 ; Rask, Tony 1 ; Epps, Grey 2 ; McAlister, Nick 3
SB: Hudson, Brad 1 ; McAlister, Nick 1
HBP: Ulick, Austin 1
Batting:
2B: BURGHARDT,Jon 1
HR: LAYNE,Ryan 1 ; BURGHARDT,Jon 1
RBI: LAYNE,Ryan 3 ; BURGHARDT,Jon 1 ; HILL,Stephen 1
SF: HILL,Stephen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LAYNE,Ryan 1 ; GOODNIGHT,Logan 1 ; BURGHARDT,Jon 1 ; DILLINGHAM,Peyton 1 ; HENSOR,Bryce 1
SB: BURGHARDT,Jon 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
6
R
4
H
4
RBI
0
AB
6
R
3
H
4
RBI
2
AB
6
R
2
H
3
RBI
5
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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