Friday, March 12
Carbondale, Ill.
12 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
12-0, 1-0
14
vs
5
Evansville
6-7, 0-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Evansville
0
2
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
5
7
2
Southern Illinois
1
0
0
0
10
0
1
2
X
14
15
0
#25 SIU off to program record 12-0 start
03/12/2021 | 5:34:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The No. 25-ranked SIU baseball team scored 10 runs in the fifth inning of a 14-5 win over Evansville in the Missouri Valley Conference opener on Friday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. SIU improved to 12-0 with the win, the best start in program history, and won its 17th-straight game dating back to last season.Â
SIU (12-0, 1-0 MVC) trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and one out with a 1-1 count on Tristan Peters. Nine pitches later, the Salukis had an 8-5 lead. Peters hit a two-run single up the middle. Vinni Massaglia followed with a three-run homer. On the very next pitch, Philip Archer hit a solo homer; and four pitches later, J.T. Weber provided the back end of the back-to-back-to-back homers.Â
"The offense can get you in multiple ways," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We don't swing at a ton of bad pitches right now. We have some thunder from top to bottom. On a day like today when the wind is blowing out pretty good, we have some guys who can leave the yard and change the game in the blink of an eye."
And the Salukis did it against tough competition. Evansville (6-7, 0-1 MVC) came into the game winners of five of their last eight games. The Aces beat a nationally ranked Georgia team on the season's opening day at Georgia's home ballpark. Evansville's ace Shane Gray, who was the pitcher who beat Georgia, came into the day 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA, and he was solid against SIU through four innings today until the avalanche of the fifth inning.Â
"We were able to get in some hitter's counts in the middle innings and do some damage," Rhodes said. "That's the thing I talk about with our offense all the time: One after another, it's a tough AB. It's hard for a pitcher to lock in for three, four, or five hitters in a row if we can stay to our plan."
The Salukis weren't through scoring in the fifth inning. After Weber's homer chased Gray (4.1 IP, 8H, 8R, 7ER), Cody Cleveland drew a walk, and Austin Ulick hit a double. Ian Walters hit a sac fly to score Cleveland, and Evan Martin hit SIU's fourth home run of the inning to give SIU a 10-run inning. SIU came into the fifth inning trailing 5-1 and left it with an 11-5 lead.Â
While SIU's offense stole the show with a four-homer inning, Tanner Lewis was outstanding out of the bullpen. SIU starter Mike Hansell struggled after a 1-2-3 first inning. Evansville scored two runs in the second, one in the third, and two more in the fourth when some ground balls with runners on base found holes. Four of Evansville's five runs came with two outs, giving Evansville a 5-1 lead after four innings. But Lewis relieved Hansell and was dynamic, striking out five and allowing just one hit in 3.2 innings out of the bullpen.Â
"Tanner came in and started slamming the door and throwing up zeros," Rhodes said. "We started chipping away offensively and found some barrels. We exploded there with four home runs in one inning. The one thing we always tell our guys: Never panic. As long as we play for 27 outs, we have a chance to be successful in the long haul of an entire game.
"He's been lights out out of the bullpen every time we've gone to him," Rhodes said of Lewis. "He was the difference-maker in the game, when you think about it, because he threw up some zeros, which gave our offense a chance to come back and score some runs."
UP NEXT: SIU and Evansville play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first pitch of the first game at 2 p.m. at Itchy Jones Stadium. The four-game series is part of the new MVC scheduling format that features four-game weekends, rather than the traditional three-game sets. Right-hander Ben Chapman will start the first game of the doubleheader, which will be a seven-inning game. Lefty Brad Harrison will start the second game, which will be a nine-inning game. If the first game of the doubleheader goes into nine or more innings, the second game of the doubleheader will automatically become seven innings. Evansville will start Jake McMahill in the first game and Nick Smith in the second game.
NOTES: SIU is 12-0 for the first time in program history (75 seasons). The 1967 Salukis started 11-0 ... SIU has won 17-straight games dating back to last season, which is the second-longest active winning streak in the nation (Navy has won 18-straight) ... SIU's 17-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest winning streak in program history ... Ian Walters extended his reached base streak to 33 games, which dates back to late in the 2019 season ... Philip Archer has reached base in 23-straight games, dating back to last year ... Tristan Peters extended his hitting streak to 10 games and has nine multi-hit games already this season, including five-straight multi-hit games including today ... SIU is ranked #25 nationally by Collegiate Baseball ... SIU has not lost a home game under head coach Lance Rhodes (5-0 last year, 6-0 this year) and is 42-13 in its last 55 games at Itchy Jones Stadium ... SIU has scored twice as many runs as its opponent in eight-straight games (outscored opponents 86-35 in that span) ... Longest winning streaks in school history: 24 games - 1973 and 1974; 17 games - 1964 and 2020-21 (active); 16 games - 1990.
Â
SIU (12-0, 1-0 MVC) trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and one out with a 1-1 count on Tristan Peters. Nine pitches later, the Salukis had an 8-5 lead. Peters hit a two-run single up the middle. Vinni Massaglia followed with a three-run homer. On the very next pitch, Philip Archer hit a solo homer; and four pitches later, J.T. Weber provided the back end of the back-to-back-to-back homers.Â
"The offense can get you in multiple ways," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We don't swing at a ton of bad pitches right now. We have some thunder from top to bottom. On a day like today when the wind is blowing out pretty good, we have some guys who can leave the yard and change the game in the blink of an eye."
And the Salukis did it against tough competition. Evansville (6-7, 0-1 MVC) came into the game winners of five of their last eight games. The Aces beat a nationally ranked Georgia team on the season's opening day at Georgia's home ballpark. Evansville's ace Shane Gray, who was the pitcher who beat Georgia, came into the day 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA, and he was solid against SIU through four innings today until the avalanche of the fifth inning.Â
"We were able to get in some hitter's counts in the middle innings and do some damage," Rhodes said. "That's the thing I talk about with our offense all the time: One after another, it's a tough AB. It's hard for a pitcher to lock in for three, four, or five hitters in a row if we can stay to our plan."
The Salukis weren't through scoring in the fifth inning. After Weber's homer chased Gray (4.1 IP, 8H, 8R, 7ER), Cody Cleveland drew a walk, and Austin Ulick hit a double. Ian Walters hit a sac fly to score Cleveland, and Evan Martin hit SIU's fourth home run of the inning to give SIU a 10-run inning. SIU came into the fifth inning trailing 5-1 and left it with an 11-5 lead.Â
While SIU's offense stole the show with a four-homer inning, Tanner Lewis was outstanding out of the bullpen. SIU starter Mike Hansell struggled after a 1-2-3 first inning. Evansville scored two runs in the second, one in the third, and two more in the fourth when some ground balls with runners on base found holes. Four of Evansville's five runs came with two outs, giving Evansville a 5-1 lead after four innings. But Lewis relieved Hansell and was dynamic, striking out five and allowing just one hit in 3.2 innings out of the bullpen.Â
"Tanner came in and started slamming the door and throwing up zeros," Rhodes said. "We started chipping away offensively and found some barrels. We exploded there with four home runs in one inning. The one thing we always tell our guys: Never panic. As long as we play for 27 outs, we have a chance to be successful in the long haul of an entire game.
"He's been lights out out of the bullpen every time we've gone to him," Rhodes said of Lewis. "He was the difference-maker in the game, when you think about it, because he threw up some zeros, which gave our offense a chance to come back and score some runs."
UP NEXT: SIU and Evansville play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first pitch of the first game at 2 p.m. at Itchy Jones Stadium. The four-game series is part of the new MVC scheduling format that features four-game weekends, rather than the traditional three-game sets. Right-hander Ben Chapman will start the first game of the doubleheader, which will be a seven-inning game. Lefty Brad Harrison will start the second game, which will be a nine-inning game. If the first game of the doubleheader goes into nine or more innings, the second game of the doubleheader will automatically become seven innings. Evansville will start Jake McMahill in the first game and Nick Smith in the second game.
NOTES: SIU is 12-0 for the first time in program history (75 seasons). The 1967 Salukis started 11-0 ... SIU has won 17-straight games dating back to last season, which is the second-longest active winning streak in the nation (Navy has won 18-straight) ... SIU's 17-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest winning streak in program history ... Ian Walters extended his reached base streak to 33 games, which dates back to late in the 2019 season ... Philip Archer has reached base in 23-straight games, dating back to last year ... Tristan Peters extended his hitting streak to 10 games and has nine multi-hit games already this season, including five-straight multi-hit games including today ... SIU is ranked #25 nationally by Collegiate Baseball ... SIU has not lost a home game under head coach Lance Rhodes (5-0 last year, 6-0 this year) and is 42-13 in its last 55 games at Itchy Jones Stadium ... SIU has scored twice as many runs as its opponent in eight-straight games (outscored opponents 86-35 in that span) ... Longest winning streaks in school history: 24 games - 1973 and 1974; 17 games - 1964 and 2020-21 (active); 16 games - 1990.
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lewis, Tanner (2-0)
L: Gray, Shane (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Shepherd, Craig 1 ; Roberts, Eric 1
RBI: Borgstrom, Danny 2 ; Shallenberger, Mark 1 ; Roberts, Eric 1 ; Crews, Kenton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Beilsmith, Troy 1 ; Scherry, Simon 1 ; Roberts, Eric 2 ; Komonosky, Ben 1
HBP: Komonosky, Ben 2
Batting:
2B: Martin, Evan 1 ; Ulick, Austin 1
HR: Martin, Evan 1 ; Massaglia, Vinni 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Weber, J.T. 2
RBI: Walters, Ian 1 ; Martin, Evan 2 ; Peters, Tristan 3 ; Massaglia, Vinni 4 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Weber, J.T. 3
SH: Martin, Evan 1
SF: Walters, Ian 1 ; Peters, Tristan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walters, Ian 1 ; Martin, Evan 3 ; Neville, Nick 1 ; Peters, Tristan 2 ; Massaglia, Vinni 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Weber, J.T. 2 ; Cleveland, Cody 1 ; Ulick, Austin 2
HBP: Walters, Ian 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
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LHP
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OF
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