Wednesday, March 11
Carbondale, Ill.
6 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
12-6
6
vs
4
Southeast Missouri
9-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southeast Missouri
1
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
0
4
10
0
Southern Ill.
0
0
3
1
0
2
0
0
X
6
15
0
SIU pounds out 15 hits, beats SEMO 6-4
03/11/2020 | 9:33:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The SIU baseball team pounded out 15 hits in a 6-4 win over Southeast Missouri on Wednesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Salukis won their fifth-straight game and remained undefeated at home this season.Â
SIU (12-6), which is off to its best start since 2012, got a great start from Blake Begner. SIU, playing in its fifth game in the last six days, got 5.2 innings from Begner, who allowed just one earned run on eight hits. Begner struck out five and walked none, and he handed the ball to SIU's dominant bullpen duo of Matthew Steidl and Trey McDaniel, who wrapped up the win. Among the three of them, they struck out nine and walked none.
"When you look at the pitching side for both games (last night at Arkansas State and tonight vs. SEMO), it was really, really strong," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "Tonight, if you look at the outs we gave them, our pitching staff probably got 30 or 31 outs. When you do that, and still limit the other team to four runs, it's huge."
SEMO (9-8), which had won seven of its last eight games entering Wednesday, took the lead on a two-out RBI single in the first inning. The Salukis took the lead for good with a three-run third inning that featured six-consecutive hits. On a 15-hit night, the Salukis got a hit from every starter, and five players had multi-hit games, which overcame five outs on the bases.Â
"The competitiveness of our ABs in the box was really good all night long," Rhodes said. "We screwed some stuff up on the bases, but we really competed well in the box."
Begner minimized damage in the fifth inning. With the Salukis holding a 4-1 lead, SEMO loaded the bases with no outs. The Redhawks scored two on a pair of sac flies, but that was it, and J.T. Weber responded with a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning to give SIU some breathing room. Trey McDaniel ended the game with a 7-pitch perfect ninth inning.Â
"(Begner) is going to be huge for us," Rhodes said. "He should match up well against any team that we will play in the mid-week. He gives us a chance to win. Also, when he goes that deep into games, it allows our bullpen to be rested for the weekend that's coming up. He did a great job. Then, Steidl came in and did exactly what he's been doing all year, and he passed it to McDaniel at the end, who was probably as sharp as he's been all year."
Weber, a Metropolis, Ill., native had another great night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Weber, who was hitting .152 after the season's first 12 games, extended his hitting streak to six games and has three-straight multi-hit games. In his last three games, Weber is hitting 8-for-12 (.667) with seven RBIs.Â
"It wasn't an approach issue; it wasn't a mechanical issue," Rhodes said of Weber's early-season struggles. "it was the fact that he was honestly hitting balls right at people; but when you hit balls right at people, and you're 1-for-20, you start to think, 'Is it something I'm doing?' We sat him down and showed him the quality at-bats he was having, and he went right back to doing what he was doing, Now, instead of balls going right at guys, he's finding some holes. Hopefully, it's starting to even out for him."
The Salukis take their five-game winning streak into a weekend series against Illinois. The Illini have won seven of their last nine games, including a pair of wins over ranked opponents.Â
"We talked about it when we played Arizona and USC. We're not going to get consumed with the name on the jersey," Rhodes said. "We're going to respect the opponent, for sure, but we're going to play the game of baseball, and we have to play the game at an elite level, no matter who we're playing. The margin in college baseball between the best teams to the middle of the pack is so small. We'll game plan and do our homework. We'll know exactly what we need to do to attack them and hopefully have have our best chance to win. But we need to be consumed with playing great baseball and not consumed with having Illinois on the field."
Â
SIU (12-6), which is off to its best start since 2012, got a great start from Blake Begner. SIU, playing in its fifth game in the last six days, got 5.2 innings from Begner, who allowed just one earned run on eight hits. Begner struck out five and walked none, and he handed the ball to SIU's dominant bullpen duo of Matthew Steidl and Trey McDaniel, who wrapped up the win. Among the three of them, they struck out nine and walked none.
"When you look at the pitching side for both games (last night at Arkansas State and tonight vs. SEMO), it was really, really strong," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "Tonight, if you look at the outs we gave them, our pitching staff probably got 30 or 31 outs. When you do that, and still limit the other team to four runs, it's huge."
SEMO (9-8), which had won seven of its last eight games entering Wednesday, took the lead on a two-out RBI single in the first inning. The Salukis took the lead for good with a three-run third inning that featured six-consecutive hits. On a 15-hit night, the Salukis got a hit from every starter, and five players had multi-hit games, which overcame five outs on the bases.Â
"The competitiveness of our ABs in the box was really good all night long," Rhodes said. "We screwed some stuff up on the bases, but we really competed well in the box."
Begner minimized damage in the fifth inning. With the Salukis holding a 4-1 lead, SEMO loaded the bases with no outs. The Redhawks scored two on a pair of sac flies, but that was it, and J.T. Weber responded with a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning to give SIU some breathing room. Trey McDaniel ended the game with a 7-pitch perfect ninth inning.Â
"(Begner) is going to be huge for us," Rhodes said. "He should match up well against any team that we will play in the mid-week. He gives us a chance to win. Also, when he goes that deep into games, it allows our bullpen to be rested for the weekend that's coming up. He did a great job. Then, Steidl came in and did exactly what he's been doing all year, and he passed it to McDaniel at the end, who was probably as sharp as he's been all year."
Weber, a Metropolis, Ill., native had another great night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Weber, who was hitting .152 after the season's first 12 games, extended his hitting streak to six games and has three-straight multi-hit games. In his last three games, Weber is hitting 8-for-12 (.667) with seven RBIs.Â
"It wasn't an approach issue; it wasn't a mechanical issue," Rhodes said of Weber's early-season struggles. "it was the fact that he was honestly hitting balls right at people; but when you hit balls right at people, and you're 1-for-20, you start to think, 'Is it something I'm doing?' We sat him down and showed him the quality at-bats he was having, and he went right back to doing what he was doing, Now, instead of balls going right at guys, he's finding some holes. Hopefully, it's starting to even out for him."
The Salukis take their five-game winning streak into a weekend series against Illinois. The Illini have won seven of their last nine games, including a pair of wins over ranked opponents.Â
"We talked about it when we played Arizona and USC. We're not going to get consumed with the name on the jersey," Rhodes said. "We're going to respect the opponent, for sure, but we're going to play the game of baseball, and we have to play the game at an elite level, no matter who we're playing. The margin in college baseball between the best teams to the middle of the pack is so small. We'll game plan and do our homework. We'll know exactly what we need to do to attack them and hopefully have have our best chance to win. But we need to be consumed with playing great baseball and not consumed with having Illinois on the field."
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Begner, Blake (2-2)
L: MCNEELY, Bryan (1-3)
S: McDaniel, Trey (3)
Batting:
2B: DIRDEN, Justin 1
RBI: WILBER, Tyler 1 ; DIRDEN, Justin 2 ; KECK, Andrew 1
SF: WILBER, Tyler 1 ; DIRDEN, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WILBER, Tyler 2 ; ANDREWS, Lincoln 1 ; BASLER, Connor 1
SB: WILBER, Tyler 1
CS: WRIGHT, Danny 1 ; KECK, Andrew 1
PO: WRIGHT, Danny 1
Batting:
2B: Weber, J.T. 2 ; Archer, Philip 1
RBI: Weber, J.T. 2 ; Archer, Philip 2 ; Ulick, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walters, Ian 1 ; Neville, Nick 2 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Fugitt, Addison 1
SB: Fugitt, Addison 1
CS: Walters, Ian 1 ; Martin, Evan 1
HBP: Neville, Nick 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
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