Saturday, March 6
Carbondale, Ill.
2 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
10-0
8
vs
4
UT Martin
3-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Tennessee-Martin
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
1
0
4
9
1
Southern Illinois
0
3
4
0
1
0
0
0
X
8
11
1
Salukis win 15th straight, clinch series vs. UT Martin
03/06/2021 | 7:37:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The SIU baseball team clinched the series with an 8-4 win over UT Martin on Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. SIU improved to 10-0 on the season and won its 15th straight game dating back to last year.Â
"Every single day we walk out here, we think we have a chance to win." SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "It's about playing good, quality baseball. Take the opponent out of it. If we play quality baseball, we like our chances. We have a really good group of mature players that are talented. We feel that every day we show up to the park, we have a chance to win. We want to continue the streak as long as we can."
SIU (10-0) scored first with a three-run second inning. Tristan Peters led off the inning by working a full count and pulling a double down the right field line. From there, the Salukis played station-to-station baseball. Vinni Massaglia drove in Peters with an opposite-field single. Philip Archer reached on an error, and then Tony Rask drove in another run with an opposite-field single. Brad Hudson loaded the bases with a single, and then Ian Walters brought the third run of the inning home with a sac fly.Â
"For the first time all year, we were facing a pitcher that was throwing three pitches for strikes," Rhodes said. "We had a little bit of a challenge even though maybe the velocity wasn't as high as what we've seen. He threw three quality pitches for strikes. It was good to see us challenged a little bit, and our guys responded well."
UT Martin (3-5), which came to Carbondale winners of three-straight, hit a two-run homer in the third to come within 3-2. Nick Neville responded by leading off the bottom half of the inning with a double, and Peters traded places with him to put SIU ahead 4-2. The Salukis loaded the bases and got the break of the game with two outs. Grey Epps hit a flare to shallow right field. UTM's second baseman looked like he had a play on the ball, but he deferred to the right fielder, who couldn't make a diving catch. All three runs scored to give SIU a 7-2 lead, and Epps, hustling the whole way, ended up on third with a triple.Â
SIU starter Brad Harrison earned his first win of the season with five complete innings. He struck out six and walked just one. He allowed three runs on six hits. Harrison gave way to Noah Farmer, who was phenomenal in the final four innings and never let the Skyhawks back in the game. UTM got one run on three hits, and Farmer struck out three and earned his first career save.Â
"We wanted to extend Noah out. He's a guy we can use in long relief. When we go into four-game weekends, he's a potential starter," Rhodes said. "It's a different ball game when we have to go to four starters. We wanted to get Brad out after five so we could extend Noah a little bit."
UP NEXT: SIU will go for the series sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Itchy Jones Stadium. Ben Chapman will take the mound for SIU. The Salukis will be trying to tie the best start in program history, set in 1967 when that team started the year 11-0.Â
NOTES: SIU is 10-0 for the second time in program history (the 1967 Salukis started the year 11-0) ... SIU has won 15-straight games dating back to last year, the longest winning streak for the program since the 1990 Salukis won 16-straight games ... SIU's 15-game winning streak is the fifth longest in program history (24 games - 1973 and 1974; 17 games - 1964; 16 games - 1990; 15 games - 2020-21 (active)) ... Ian Walters extended his reached base streak to 31 games, dating back to the 2019 season ... Philip Archer extended his reached base streak to 21 games, dating back to last year ... Tristan Peters recorded his seventh multi-hit game of the season (10 games) ... SIU is 9-0 at Itchy Jones Stadium under head coach Lance Rhodes (5-0 last year, 4-0 this year) ... SIU is 40-13 at Itchy Jones Stadium in its last 53 home games ... At 10-0, SIU has the most wins without a loss in the nation ... Saluki Softball also won today and improved to 12-0. Saluki Softball has won 21-straight games, and Saluki Baseball has won 15-straight games. Both streaks date back to last season ... SIU's 15-game winning streak is the second-longest active winning streak in the nation (Navy has won 18-straight games) ... SIU has scored twice as many runs as its opponent in six-straight games (outscoring opponents 64-26 in that span).Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harrison, Brad (1-0)
L: FOLKS (1-1)
S: Farmer, Noah (1)
Batting:
2B: HARFORD 1 ; DAVIS 1
HR: SMITH, W. 1 ; DANIELS 1
RBI: SMITH, W. 2 ; DANIELS 1 ; DAVIS 1
Base Running:
RUNS: SMITH, W. 1 ; LAFOLLETTE 1 ; DANIELS 1 ; DETRUDE 1
Batting:
2B: Neville, Nick 1 ; Peters, Tristan 2 ; Massaglia, Vinni 1
3B: Epps, Grey 1
RBI: Walters, Ian 1 ; Peters, Tristan 1 ; Massaglia, Vinni 1 ; Rask, Tony 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1 ; Epps, Grey 3
SF: Walters, Ian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Neville, Nick 1 ; Peters, Tristan 2 ; Massaglia, Vinni 2 ; Archer, Philip 2 ; Rask, Tony 1
SB: Weber, J.T. 1 ; Peters, Tristan 1
HBP: Walters, Ian 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Rask, Tony 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
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RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballOF
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INF
/ BaseballOF
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INF
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