Friday, March 19
Carbondale, Ill.
3 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
15-1
10
vs
4
Marshall
3-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Marshall
0
0
2
1
0
1
0
0
0
4
9
2
SIU
0
2
1
0
0
3
2
2
X
10
9
1
Photo by: Will Becque
#27 Salukis take series opener from Marshall, 10-4
03/19/2021 | 8:58:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill - The No. 27-ranked SIU baseball team scored seven unanswered runs in the final innings to pull away for a 10-4 win over Marshall in the opener of a three-game series on Friday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium.Â
The Salukis (15-1) got back in the win column after a loss on Sunday snapped a 19-game winning streak that dated back to last season. Mike Hansell got the Salukis off to a great start and was electric to start the game, striking out the side in the first and second innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and no walks in five innings of work.Â
"The way he looked the first two innings, he looked like a big leaguer," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said of Hansell. "He had done that a couple times for one inning. His biggest thing right now is learning how to go out and repeat that type of performance, go sit in the dugout, and then go back out and repeat it again. Today, he repeated it more than he had in previous outings. That's good to see that he's maturing over the course of the season. We need to keep building off of it. Today was five solid innings, and we want him to throw five, six, seven innings on a consistent basis. At the beginning, he was dominant. They weren't going to touch him at the beginning with the stuff he showed early in the game."
SIU took advantage of a missed fly ball to score a pair of runs in the second inning, with Austin Ulick providing a two-out RBI single.Â
Marshall (3-5) was playing a few players down due to COVID protocols but fought back to tie the game in the third. SIU took a 3-2 lead with a run manufactured by Brad Hudson. He stretched a single into a double to start the inning and then stole third. Tristan Peters drove him home with an RBI groundout. The Thundering Herd tied the game in the fourth and took the lead in the sixth.Â
"He's extremely fast, so he can cause havoc multiple ways, whether that's a ball in the dirt, straight stealing, getting a jump on a tag," Rhodes said of Hudson. "When you have plus runners on the bases, it takes away from the attention that the pitcher has on the guy at the plate. They're worried about making a pitch and make a mistake. (Hudson) is a very good base runner."
But SIU's lineup, as it has been all year, was relentless. Eight of the nine in the order reached base at least once, seven of the nine scored at least one run, and seven of the nine drove in at least one run. The Salukis drew nine walks and started the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings with leadoff walks. Southern made them all hurt, putting up crooked numbers in all three innings to turn a 4-3 deficit in the middle of the sixth inning into a 10-4 blowout final score.
"It was nice that the offense tacked on those runs, and we didn't have to use Trey (McDaniel)," Rhodes said. "We have a fresh Trey going into the second game of the weekend. It was a really good day on the mound, which picked up the offense."
SIU's bullpen was outstanding. Just like last week, Tanner Lewis took the ball from Hansell and pitched two solid innings, earning his third win of the season. Dylan Givens, who is still sporting a 0.00 ERA in seven appearances this year, pitched two perfect innings to close out the win. SIU's pitching struck out 12 on the day and did not issue a walk.Â
"We're still scuffling a little bit offensively, but it's nice to win a game on the mound," Rhodes said.
UP NEXT: The second game of the series will start at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ben Chapman will take the mound for SIU.Â
NOTES: SIU improved to 9-1 at Itchy Jones Stadium this year, 14-1 at home under head coach Lance Rhodes, and 45-14 in its last 59 home games ... SIU is 20-1 in its last 21 games ... Rhodes improved to 27-7 as SIU's head coach ... Tristan Peters' drew three walks but had his hitting streak snapped at 13 games ... Philip Archer extended his reached base streak to 27 games, which dates back to last year ... SIU improved to 2-0 all-time vs. Marshall. The teams had not played since the 1973 NCAA Tournament ... SIU won for the fifth time this year when it trails in a game (5-1) ... SIU is 8-1 on Fridays under head coach Lance Rhodes (5-0 this year, 3-0 last year). SIU's only Friday loss under Rhodes was a 6-5 loss to #18 Arizona in the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament last season ... J.T. Weber has reached base in 15-straight games and Tristan Peters has reached in 14-straight games ... Dylan Givens has pitched 15.2 consecutive scoreless innings, dating back to last season (5.1 at the end of last year, 10.1 innings this year).Â
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The Salukis (15-1) got back in the win column after a loss on Sunday snapped a 19-game winning streak that dated back to last season. Mike Hansell got the Salukis off to a great start and was electric to start the game, striking out the side in the first and second innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and no walks in five innings of work.Â
"The way he looked the first two innings, he looked like a big leaguer," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said of Hansell. "He had done that a couple times for one inning. His biggest thing right now is learning how to go out and repeat that type of performance, go sit in the dugout, and then go back out and repeat it again. Today, he repeated it more than he had in previous outings. That's good to see that he's maturing over the course of the season. We need to keep building off of it. Today was five solid innings, and we want him to throw five, six, seven innings on a consistent basis. At the beginning, he was dominant. They weren't going to touch him at the beginning with the stuff he showed early in the game."
SIU took advantage of a missed fly ball to score a pair of runs in the second inning, with Austin Ulick providing a two-out RBI single.Â
Marshall (3-5) was playing a few players down due to COVID protocols but fought back to tie the game in the third. SIU took a 3-2 lead with a run manufactured by Brad Hudson. He stretched a single into a double to start the inning and then stole third. Tristan Peters drove him home with an RBI groundout. The Thundering Herd tied the game in the fourth and took the lead in the sixth.Â
"He's extremely fast, so he can cause havoc multiple ways, whether that's a ball in the dirt, straight stealing, getting a jump on a tag," Rhodes said of Hudson. "When you have plus runners on the bases, it takes away from the attention that the pitcher has on the guy at the plate. They're worried about making a pitch and make a mistake. (Hudson) is a very good base runner."
But SIU's lineup, as it has been all year, was relentless. Eight of the nine in the order reached base at least once, seven of the nine scored at least one run, and seven of the nine drove in at least one run. The Salukis drew nine walks and started the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings with leadoff walks. Southern made them all hurt, putting up crooked numbers in all three innings to turn a 4-3 deficit in the middle of the sixth inning into a 10-4 blowout final score.
"It was nice that the offense tacked on those runs, and we didn't have to use Trey (McDaniel)," Rhodes said. "We have a fresh Trey going into the second game of the weekend. It was a really good day on the mound, which picked up the offense."
SIU's bullpen was outstanding. Just like last week, Tanner Lewis took the ball from Hansell and pitched two solid innings, earning his third win of the season. Dylan Givens, who is still sporting a 0.00 ERA in seven appearances this year, pitched two perfect innings to close out the win. SIU's pitching struck out 12 on the day and did not issue a walk.Â
"We're still scuffling a little bit offensively, but it's nice to win a game on the mound," Rhodes said.
UP NEXT: The second game of the series will start at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ben Chapman will take the mound for SIU.Â
NOTES: SIU improved to 9-1 at Itchy Jones Stadium this year, 14-1 at home under head coach Lance Rhodes, and 45-14 in its last 59 home games ... SIU is 20-1 in its last 21 games ... Rhodes improved to 27-7 as SIU's head coach ... Tristan Peters' drew three walks but had his hitting streak snapped at 13 games ... Philip Archer extended his reached base streak to 27 games, which dates back to last year ... SIU improved to 2-0 all-time vs. Marshall. The teams had not played since the 1973 NCAA Tournament ... SIU won for the fifth time this year when it trails in a game (5-1) ... SIU is 8-1 on Fridays under head coach Lance Rhodes (5-0 this year, 3-0 last year). SIU's only Friday loss under Rhodes was a 6-5 loss to #18 Arizona in the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament last season ... J.T. Weber has reached base in 15-straight games and Tristan Peters has reached in 14-straight games ... Dylan Givens has pitched 15.2 consecutive scoreless innings, dating back to last season (5.1 at the end of last year, 10.1 innings this year).Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lewis, Tanner (3-0)
L: Chad Heiner (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Luke Edwards 1 ; Travis Sankovich 1 ; Josh Pigozzo 1
RBI: Travis Sankovich 2 ; Cole Williams 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Peter Hutzal 1 ; Josh Pigozzo 1 ; Cole Williams 1 ; Devin Ward 1
SB: Kyle Schaefer 1
Batting:
2B: Hudson, Brad 1
RBI: Walters, Ian 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1 ; Neville, Nick 1 ; Peters, Tristan 1 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Ulick, Austin 2
SH: Epps, Grey 1
SF: Neville, Nick 1 ; Ulick, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walters, Ian 1 ; Hudson, Brad 2 ; Peters, Tristan 1 ; Massaglia, Vinni 2 ; Weber, J.T. 2 ; Ulick, Austin 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
SB: Hudson, Brad 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Epps, Grey 1
CS: Hudson, Brad 1
PO: Hudson, Brad 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
OF
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Tuesday, September 16
9.8.25 | Saluki Football Highlights - at Purdue
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Monday, September 15