Southern Illinois University
34-16, 0
Indiana State
25-13, 0
Salukis sweep doubleheader at Indiana State
05/15/2021 | 7:57:00 | Baseball
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The SIU baseball team swept a doubleheader from Indiana State on Saturday at Warn Field, giving the Salukis (35-16, 12-11 MVC) a pair of true road wins over a team that came into the day with a top-20 RPI nationally.
SIU's offense exploded for eight runs in the first two innings of the opener and cruised to an 11-4 win. In the second game, SIU build a 7-2 lead, lost a three-run ninth-inning lead, and then won the game 8-7 in the 11th inning. The two wins gave SIU 35 wins this season, the most by the program since 2005.Â
"It's hard to win a doubleheader anywhere, especially in a tough road environment against a good team," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "To be able to do that is huge. We just can't come out complacent tomorrow. Win or lose, we need to play well."
After SIU (35-16, 12-11 MVC) won the first game 11-4, the Salukis seemingly had the second game in hand, leading 7-4 heading into the ninth inning. The craziness started with a routine ground ball hit the first-base bag to turn an easy out into a single. After that, a potential double-play ball was called a foul at the plate. Then, the Sycamores (25-14, 12-7 MVC) loaded the bases and drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs to get within 7-5. Then, SIU closer Trey McDaniel got a tapper back to the pitcher for what would have been the final out of the game, but his throw to first base was wild, and Indiana State scored two runs on the errant throw to tie the game.Â
Despite his first blown save in three years, McDaniel stayed composed and was at his best from that point forward. He got SIU out of the ninth inning without further damage to force extra innings. With a runner placed on second base to start extra innings, he pitched through the middle of Indiana State's order without allowing that run to score in the 10th inning. SIU took an 8-7 lead in the 11th inning on a wild pitch, and McDaniel induced a game-ending double-play ball with runners on the corners and one out, with the potential tying run just 90 feet away.
"We were at such a high, a split-second away from sweeping a doubleheader, then, in a matter of seconds, we were on the verge of a devastating loss," Rhodes said. "For Trey to have the ability to completely lock in and get us out of the ninth, after probably the worst thing that could happen, showed his character. He gave us a chance to win the game. The game ended how it should, a wild pitch to the backstop. It was a crazy game; there's no other way to describe it, but I'm proud that we hung in and gave ourselves a chance to win."
The craziness of the ending of the second game came on the heels for what was an outstanding day for SIU offensively. Cody Cleveland set the tone with a leadoff homer in the first inning of the first game. Cleveland led a scorching-hot SIU offense in the doubleheader, going 6-for-9 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs.Â
"Cody came right out of the gates with that homer. He has been locked in every at-bat all weekend," Rhodes said. "Even when he was out, he hit the ball hard. He's seeing the ball as well as anybody."
The Salukis followed Cleveland's lead. After his leadoff homer in the first game, J.T. Weber and Nick Neville followed with singles. Philip Archer hit an RBI double, and Evan Martin drove in a run with a groundout to give SIU a 3-0 lead before Indiana State had its first at-bat of the day. Then, SIU followed up its three-run first with a five-run second inning. Tony Rask, Cleveland, Weber, Tristan Peters, and Neville started it with five-straight singles. Archer drove in a run with a groundout, and Brad Hudson added an RBI single with two outs. The Salukis sent 10 to the plate in the second inning.Â
"One after another, we put good at-bats together. That set the tone for the day," Rhodes said. "Hopefully, we can feed off that confidence and go into tomorrow and have another good day."
From there, SIU cruised to an 11-4 win. Ben Chapman allowed a pair of solo homers, but struck out six and walked just one pitching with the lead. Tanner Lewis finished the win with 2.2 scoreless innings, striking out four and walking just one. Cleveland's second homer of the game, a two-run shot, pushed SIU's lead to 10-2, and Nick Neville provided the capper with a towering solo homer, his 13th of the season.Â
In the second game, Ian Walters and J.T. Weber each hit two-run homers to give SIU an early 4-1 lead. Cleveland came through with a two-run, two-out single to extend SIU's lead to 7-2, which proved pivotal after Indiana State's ninth-inning comeback.Â
While SIU expanded the lead in both games, SIU's pitching was solid all day on the mound. Chapman and Lewis got SIU through the first game without being threatened. In the second game, Brad Harrison pitched around trouble without his best stuff and kept Indiana State at bay, and Bubba Hall pitched 3.2 good innings behind Harrison before giving way to McDaniel.Â
"I'm really proud of the way everyone pitched," Rhodes said."There were some big pressure moments in both games, and our pitchers executed under pressure. Everyone had good stuff and was in the strike zone. At times, they all really dominated their innings and gave our offense a chance to spread the leads out."
UP NEXT: The final game of the series is set for 12 p.m. CT on Sunday.
NOTES: SIU's 35 wins are the most for the program since the 2005 team won 38 games, and the second-most wins for the program since 1991 ... Cody Cleveland started the season 4-for-28 (.143) and is hitting 35-for-84 (.417) since then. He now has an active streak of four-straight multi-hit games ... SIU hit its 70th home run of the season, third-most in program history (SIU hit 75 homers in 1997 and 73 homers in 1998) ... Nick Neville and J.T. Weber each hit his 13th homer of the season, tied for the seventh-best single-season total in program history. The duo became the fifth set of teammates to hit 13+ homer in a season in program history ... SIU snapped a nine-game losing streak to Indiana State that dated back to 2018 ... SIU secured at least a split of the season series vs. Indiana State for the first time since 2015 ... Indiana State had been 23-2 in its last 25 home games before today, and had not been beaten twice in a home weekend series since April 2018 vs. DBU ... An SIU error in the first game of the doubleheader ended a streak of 44 consecutive errorless innings for SIU's defense ... Brad Harrison had two strikeouts to move into eighth all-time at SIU in career strikeouts with 235, passing Skip Pitlock (234 strikeouts from 1967-69) ... Nick Neville has reached base safely (H, BB, or HBP) in 33 of the last 34 games ... SIU has won seven of its last nine MVC games after starting league play 5-9 ... J.T. Weber has hit safely in 17 of the last 19 games ... Four of SIU's last five games have been one-run games.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chapman, Ben (7-4)
L: Grauer,Tyler (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Archer, Philip 1 ; Rask, Tony 1
HR: Cleveland, Cody 2 ; Neville, Nick 1
RBI: Cleveland, Cody 3 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Peters, Tristan 1 ; Neville, Nick 2 ; Archer, Philip 2 ; Martin, Evan 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cleveland, Cody 3 ; Weber, J.T. 2 ; Peters, Tristan 1 ; Neville, Nick 3 ; Rask, Tony 2
SB: Hudson, Brad 1
HBP: Walters, Ian 1
Batting:
2B: Beck,Aaron 1 ; Harbison,Kyle 1
HR: Wright,Max 1 ; Fuentes,Brian 1
RBI: Beck,Aaron 2 ; Wright,Max 1 ; Fuentes,Brian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Schaffer,Jordan 1 ; Wright,Max 1 ; Fuentes,Brian 1 ; Nelson,Tyler 1
