Friday, March 6
Carbondale, Ill.
3 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
8-6
2
vs
1
Northern Illinois
7-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
Northern Illinois
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
0
Southern Ill.
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
9
2
Salukis Top Huskies Off Ian Walters' Walk-Off RBI
03/06/2020 | 9:00:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois University Salukis defeated the Northern Illinois University Huskies 2-1 off of an Ian Walters walk-off RBI in the 10th inning on Friday night in the first game of the weekend series between the two programs.
"Well, it was just a tough night to get anything going offensively," said first-year head coach Lance Rhodes. "We had base runners all night, but we just couldn't get that last hit to get some guys in."
The game got underway with two back-and-forth scoreless innings between the Huskies (7-6) and Salukis (8-6). NIU got on the board first with a solo home run to right from sophomore Nick Drobushevich to take the 1-0 lead.
NIU's Michael Lasiewicz kept the Salukis at bay through his five innings at the mound, holding Southern scoreless with six hits and stranding seven on base. "Going into the game, we were talking to our guys that this might be the best starting pitcher that we've seen up to this point in the season," said Rhodes. "We knew it was going to be a battle."
The Huskies lead lasted two innings before SIU was able to tie it up off of a sac fly from Philip Archer that scored Brad Hudson for his 13th RBI of the season. Southern kept trying to take advantage of runners in scoring position through the rest of the regulation but failed to do so as the Salukis left five runners on base through the ninth inning.
Heading into the bottom of the 10th inning, Northern Illinois' Nate Thomas had gotten junior infielder Grey Epps to strikeout looking for the first out of the inning. At the next at-bat, Lucas Danielewicz reached base by way of walking to put one on with one out. Rhodes then made the decision to place Andrew Olszewski on first as a pinch runner with the game on the line.
Austin Ulick then collected his fourth hit of the night to advance Olszewski to second. With two on and one out, Northern Illinois decided to intentionally walk Nick McAlister to load the bases. With one out and the bases loaded, Ian Walters stepped up to the plate and delivered the final hit the Salukis had been searching for all night.
Walters' line drive to the second basemen was thrown to the short stop at second, allowing Olszewski to run home and end the contest. The walk-off RBI is the first for Southern since J.T. Weber's against Morehead State on March 24, 2019.
Mason Hiser started the game for the Salukis and did not disappoint. Matching a season-high with six innings of action, the Augusta, Kan. native only allowed one run and struck out three while only holding the Huskies to one run off of five hits. Trey McDaniel came into as relief in the seventh inning and pitched a gem. The junior threw two and two-thirds scoreless, striking out four to pick up his second win of the season.
"Our guys, man, they just battled," said Rhodes. "They just found a way to get it done."
Southern Illinois will go for the series win tomorrow at 2 p.m. Brad Harrison will take to the mound for the Salukis.
Notes: SIU has now won back-to-back games against the Huskies … Austin Ulick had a career-high four hits … Southern has improved to 2-0 at home this season … McDaniel improved to 2-1 on the season and has thrown for 12.1 scoreless innings.
"Well, it was just a tough night to get anything going offensively," said first-year head coach Lance Rhodes. "We had base runners all night, but we just couldn't get that last hit to get some guys in."
The game got underway with two back-and-forth scoreless innings between the Huskies (7-6) and Salukis (8-6). NIU got on the board first with a solo home run to right from sophomore Nick Drobushevich to take the 1-0 lead.
NIU's Michael Lasiewicz kept the Salukis at bay through his five innings at the mound, holding Southern scoreless with six hits and stranding seven on base. "Going into the game, we were talking to our guys that this might be the best starting pitcher that we've seen up to this point in the season," said Rhodes. "We knew it was going to be a battle."
The Huskies lead lasted two innings before SIU was able to tie it up off of a sac fly from Philip Archer that scored Brad Hudson for his 13th RBI of the season. Southern kept trying to take advantage of runners in scoring position through the rest of the regulation but failed to do so as the Salukis left five runners on base through the ninth inning.
Heading into the bottom of the 10th inning, Northern Illinois' Nate Thomas had gotten junior infielder Grey Epps to strikeout looking for the first out of the inning. At the next at-bat, Lucas Danielewicz reached base by way of walking to put one on with one out. Rhodes then made the decision to place Andrew Olszewski on first as a pinch runner with the game on the line.
Austin Ulick then collected his fourth hit of the night to advance Olszewski to second. With two on and one out, Northern Illinois decided to intentionally walk Nick McAlister to load the bases. With one out and the bases loaded, Ian Walters stepped up to the plate and delivered the final hit the Salukis had been searching for all night.
Walters' line drive to the second basemen was thrown to the short stop at second, allowing Olszewski to run home and end the contest. The walk-off RBI is the first for Southern since J.T. Weber's against Morehead State on March 24, 2019.
Mason Hiser started the game for the Salukis and did not disappoint. Matching a season-high with six innings of action, the Augusta, Kan. native only allowed one run and struck out three while only holding the Huskies to one run off of five hits. Trey McDaniel came into as relief in the seventh inning and pitched a gem. The junior threw two and two-thirds scoreless, striking out four to pick up his second win of the season.
"Our guys, man, they just battled," said Rhodes. "They just found a way to get it done."
Southern Illinois will go for the series win tomorrow at 2 p.m. Brad Harrison will take to the mound for the Salukis.
Notes: SIU has now won back-to-back games against the Huskies … Austin Ulick had a career-high four hits … Southern has improved to 2-0 at home this season … McDaniel improved to 2-1 on the season and has thrown for 12.1 scoreless innings.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McDaniel, Trey (2-1)
L: THOMAS, Nate (2-1)
Batting:
HR: DROBUSHEVICH, Nick 1
RBI: DROBUSHEVICH, Nick 1
SH: PETERS, Malik 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DROBUSHEVICH, Nick 1
SB: JOYCE, Brendan 1 ; SZCZASNY, Tommy 1
Batting:
2B: Walters, Ian 1
RBI: Walters, Ian 1 ; Archer, Philip 1
SH: McAlister, Nick 1
SF: Archer, Philip 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hudson, Brad 1 ; Olszewski, Andrew 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
4
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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