Saturday, March 13
Carbondale, Ill.
2 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
13-0, 2-0
5
vs
3
Evansville
6-8, 0-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Evansville
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
3
5
0
Southern Illinois
1
3
0
0
0
1
X
5
10
1
#25 SIU sweeps doubleheader from Evansville
03/13/2021 | 8:14:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The No. 25-ranked SIU baseball team won both ends of a doubleheader against Evansville on Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Salukis won the first game 5-3 and the second game 9-4. SIU improved to 14-0 on the season and 3-0 in MVC play, and the Salukis have won 19-straight games dating back to last year, the longest active winning streak in the nation.Â
"To be here for as long as we were, and still be locked in when the second game was over, was good to see," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We were here at 11:30 in the morning, and wrapping up at 7:30. Sometimes, the mind starts to wander; and when the mind wanders, the play starts to go backwards. We didn't have that today. We stayed in it start-to-finish, and that was great to see."
In the first game, a seven-inning game under the Missouri Valley Conference's new four-game weekend format, the Salukis (14-0, 3-0 MVC) struck early and held on late. Evan Martin hit a first-inning home run. Grey Epps hit a three-run homer in the second inning to give SIU a 4-0 lead. But Evansville (6-9, 0-3 MVC) chipped away, scoring two in the fourth and one in the sixth to get within 4-3.Â
"We needed to get tested. Yesterday, we came from behind. Today, we played in close games," Rhodes said. "It was good to have our guys under pressure, because that's when you see what guys are made of. It was good to see our guys compete and not give in and perform well under that pressure."
In the second game, SIU jumped ahead 2-0 with a first inning two-run single by Philip Archer. Evansville tied the game in the third with a homer, but SIU scored the next six runs to take an 8-2 lead into the late innings. Again, the Aces climbed back, scoring two runs in the seventh to get within 8-4, and Evansville had two runners and could have drawn even closer, but Bubba Hall got SIU out of the jam.
In both games, SIU added big insurance runs late. In the first game, after Evansville got within 4-3, Evan Martin hit an RBI single in the sixth to give SIU an extra run of breathing room, and Trey McDaniel made it hold up with a perfect seventh inning. In the second game, Vinni Massaglia hit an RBI double in the eighth to push SIU ahead 9-4, and Hall closed the door for his first career save.Â
"(Insurance runs) take the wind out of the sails on the other side," Rhodes said. "Both games, they were right there. They were only one hit away from making it a really, really tight game. We came back and scored a run to put the dagger in both times. It comes back to the word I'm using all the time: relentless. We had a relentless approach all day long."
SIU started pitched well in both games. Ben Chapman has started four games for SIU and earned the win in all four. Today, he allowed two runs (one earned) in five innings before giving way to Trey McDaniel, who earned his fourth save of the season with a two-inning save. In the second game, Brad Harrison struck out a season-high nine batters in six innings and allowed just three hits.Â
"Chapman threw well in the first game, and Harrison threw the best he's thrown all year," Rhodes said. "(Harrison) really had a good breaking ball going. He's been here and done it so many times in Missouri Valley play that he was our ideal guy that we wanted to go on a back end of a doubleheader. We thought that he could sit here all day and still be ready to go in game two, and that's exactly what he did."
In a lineup full of incredibly hot hitters, Vinni Massaglia was the star of the day. He was 4-for-7 with a double, a homer and four RBIs today, helping SIU clinch the series.Â
"He's about as hot as you can get right now," Rhodes said of Massaglia. "Even the outs that he makes, he's finding the barrel. He's swinging it about as well as you can swing it."
J.T. Weber went 4-for-5 on the day, as well, and Evan Martin went 4-for-8 with three RBIs.Â
UP NEXT: SIU will go for the four-game sweep on Sunday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
NOTES: SIU's 14-0 record extends a program record for best start to a season (previous: 11-0 in 1967) ... SIU has won 19-straight games dating back to last season, the longest active winning streak in the nation and the third-longest in SIU history (SIU had 24-game winning streaks in both 1973 and 1974) ... SIU's 14 wins are the most in the nation ... SIU has won 13-consecutive home games (13-0 under head coach Lance Rhodes) and is 44-13 in its last 57 home games ... Ian Walters extended his reached base streak to 35 games, which dates back to late in the 2019 season ... Philip Archer extended his reached base streak to 25 games, which dates back to last season ... Tristan Peters extended his hitting streak to 12 games and has 10 multi-hit games already this season ... SIU is ranked #25 nationally by Collegiate Baseball ... The series is the first MVC series of the year. The MVC is using four-game weekend series this season, as opposed to the three-game series of past seasons. The first game of the Saturday doubleheader is a seven-inning game, followed by a nine-inning second game.
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"To be here for as long as we were, and still be locked in when the second game was over, was good to see," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We were here at 11:30 in the morning, and wrapping up at 7:30. Sometimes, the mind starts to wander; and when the mind wanders, the play starts to go backwards. We didn't have that today. We stayed in it start-to-finish, and that was great to see."
In the first game, a seven-inning game under the Missouri Valley Conference's new four-game weekend format, the Salukis (14-0, 3-0 MVC) struck early and held on late. Evan Martin hit a first-inning home run. Grey Epps hit a three-run homer in the second inning to give SIU a 4-0 lead. But Evansville (6-9, 0-3 MVC) chipped away, scoring two in the fourth and one in the sixth to get within 4-3.Â
"We needed to get tested. Yesterday, we came from behind. Today, we played in close games," Rhodes said. "It was good to have our guys under pressure, because that's when you see what guys are made of. It was good to see our guys compete and not give in and perform well under that pressure."
In the second game, SIU jumped ahead 2-0 with a first inning two-run single by Philip Archer. Evansville tied the game in the third with a homer, but SIU scored the next six runs to take an 8-2 lead into the late innings. Again, the Aces climbed back, scoring two runs in the seventh to get within 8-4, and Evansville had two runners and could have drawn even closer, but Bubba Hall got SIU out of the jam.
In both games, SIU added big insurance runs late. In the first game, after Evansville got within 4-3, Evan Martin hit an RBI single in the sixth to give SIU an extra run of breathing room, and Trey McDaniel made it hold up with a perfect seventh inning. In the second game, Vinni Massaglia hit an RBI double in the eighth to push SIU ahead 9-4, and Hall closed the door for his first career save.Â
"(Insurance runs) take the wind out of the sails on the other side," Rhodes said. "Both games, they were right there. They were only one hit away from making it a really, really tight game. We came back and scored a run to put the dagger in both times. It comes back to the word I'm using all the time: relentless. We had a relentless approach all day long."
SIU started pitched well in both games. Ben Chapman has started four games for SIU and earned the win in all four. Today, he allowed two runs (one earned) in five innings before giving way to Trey McDaniel, who earned his fourth save of the season with a two-inning save. In the second game, Brad Harrison struck out a season-high nine batters in six innings and allowed just three hits.Â
"Chapman threw well in the first game, and Harrison threw the best he's thrown all year," Rhodes said. "(Harrison) really had a good breaking ball going. He's been here and done it so many times in Missouri Valley play that he was our ideal guy that we wanted to go on a back end of a doubleheader. We thought that he could sit here all day and still be ready to go in game two, and that's exactly what he did."
In a lineup full of incredibly hot hitters, Vinni Massaglia was the star of the day. He was 4-for-7 with a double, a homer and four RBIs today, helping SIU clinch the series.Â
"He's about as hot as you can get right now," Rhodes said of Massaglia. "Even the outs that he makes, he's finding the barrel. He's swinging it about as well as you can swing it."
J.T. Weber went 4-for-5 on the day, as well, and Evan Martin went 4-for-8 with three RBIs.Â
UP NEXT: SIU will go for the four-game sweep on Sunday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
NOTES: SIU's 14-0 record extends a program record for best start to a season (previous: 11-0 in 1967) ... SIU has won 19-straight games dating back to last season, the longest active winning streak in the nation and the third-longest in SIU history (SIU had 24-game winning streaks in both 1973 and 1974) ... SIU's 14 wins are the most in the nation ... SIU has won 13-consecutive home games (13-0 under head coach Lance Rhodes) and is 44-13 in its last 57 home games ... Ian Walters extended his reached base streak to 35 games, which dates back to late in the 2019 season ... Philip Archer extended his reached base streak to 25 games, which dates back to last season ... Tristan Peters extended his hitting streak to 12 games and has 10 multi-hit games already this season ... SIU is ranked #25 nationally by Collegiate Baseball ... The series is the first MVC series of the year. The MVC is using four-game weekend series this season, as opposed to the three-game series of past seasons. The first game of the Saturday doubleheader is a seven-inning game, followed by a nine-inning second game.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chapman, Ben (4-0)
L: McMahill, Jake (0-1)
S: McDaniel, Trey (4)
Batting:
2B: Beilsmith, Troy 1 ; Craig, Tanner 1
RBI: Craig, Tanner 1 ; Shallenberger, Mark 1 ; Scherry, Simon 1
SF: Scherry, Simon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Beilsmith, Troy 2 ; Craig, Tanner 1
SB: Beilsmith, Troy 1
CS: Shallenberger, Mark 1
HBP: Beilsmith, Troy 1 ; Shallenberger, Mark 1 ; Brinkley, Mason 1
Batting:
2B: Peters, Tristan 1
HR: Martin, Evan 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
RBI: Martin, Evan 2 ; Epps, Grey 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Martin, Evan 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Weber, J.T. 2 ; Epps, Grey 1
SB: Walters, Ian 2 ; Martin, Evan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballInside Saluki Athletics - September 16th
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9.16.25 | Coach Nick Hill Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, September 16
9.8.25 | Saluki Football Highlights - at Purdue
Monday, September 15
9.15.25 | Damien Mayo Jr. with Rodney Watson
Monday, September 15