Saturday, May 29
3:13 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
40-20
7
vs
9
Indiana State
30-18
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Indiana State
0
0
0
2
0
6
0
1
0
9
12
1
SIU
3
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
7
12
1
Sycamores outlast Salukis, 9-7
05/29/2021 | 6:59:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Indiana State baseball team hit a grand slam in a six-run sixth inning in a 9-7 win over SIU on Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium.Â
"From the group getting together in August, and all the things they had to go through, from protocols from early Fall until now, and it's as special of a group as I've ever been around," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "I don't think that they could have done any more. We asked them to dedicate their lives to being the best college baseball players that they could be. They were as dedicated and as willing to work as any group I've ever seen. Them winning 40 games is not a fluke. It's because of all the time, effort, and energy that they put into the season. I'm super proud of them. Hopefully, the committee thinks we deserve an opportunity."
SIU (40-20) will wait until Monday's NCAA Tournament announcement to see if its season can be extended. The Salukis won 40 games, which is seventh-most in the nation. SIU has five Quad 1 wins, which is the 12th-most for non-Power 5 schools in the nation, and went 9-5 against the RPI top-100. Of its nine top-100 RPI wins, seven were true road games. The Salukis have been one of the best offensive teams in the nation all season long and rank second in the nation in hits and fourth in runs. SIU had a 14-game winning streak this season, which ranks as the fifth-longest in the nation this year. Â
"The thing that makes them special is the thing that the fans and the community don't get to see, and that's the dedication and work ethic that they have," Rhodes said. "You guys get to see them perform on game day, and they perform extremely well because of all the hours and extra work that they put in. That's what makes it so special. Winning games is a byproduct of all the work that they put in. They're just great people that work extremely hard. That's how you build a special culture."'
SIU took an early 5-0 lead. Indiana State (30-18) hit a two-run homer to get within 5-2, but turned the game around with a six-run sixth inning highlighted by a grand slam and emphatic bat flip by Ellison Hanna II.Â
In the next half-inning, SIU loaded the bases with no outs, and J.T. Weber hit a missile line drive up the middle. Instead of at least a run-scoring single, the ball wedged between the ribs and the forearm of pitcher Matt Jachec, who doubled off the runner at second, and SIU didn't score in the inning. Still, the Salukis fought until the end. Tristan Peters hit a two-run homer in the ninth to put the tying run in the on-deck circle.Â
"I knew our guys wouldn't quit," Rhodes said. "The fight and passion to get back into the game was there. It showed in the ninth. We were right there in the ninth. All we needed was one base runner, and their dugout was going to be nervous; I can tell you that. I'm so proud of the effort that we had. It hurts and stings because we didn't win the tournament like we wanted to, but we never quit, even in the two games that we lost."
If the Salukis aren't selected to the NCAA Tournament, the 2021 Salukis proved themselves as a resurgent program. SIU won 40 games in a season for the sixth time ever and first time in 31 seasons, since the 1990 team went 49-14. Southern Illinois earned a national ranking and were ranked as high as No. 22 in the nation this season. A 19-game winning streak, which started at the end of the 2020 season, was the second-longest in program history. The team went 5-5 against the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is the seventh-best league in the nation by RPI this season, ahead of the Big Ten, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Big East, West Coast and 16 other conferences.Â
As a team, SIU hit .297 and shattered the school record with 84 home runs. SIU scored 439 runs, which is the second-most in program history. Individually, Nick Neville broke SIU's 41-year-old single-season home run record with 17, and seven players hit .299 or better on the season.Â
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"From the group getting together in August, and all the things they had to go through, from protocols from early Fall until now, and it's as special of a group as I've ever been around," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "I don't think that they could have done any more. We asked them to dedicate their lives to being the best college baseball players that they could be. They were as dedicated and as willing to work as any group I've ever seen. Them winning 40 games is not a fluke. It's because of all the time, effort, and energy that they put into the season. I'm super proud of them. Hopefully, the committee thinks we deserve an opportunity."
SIU (40-20) will wait until Monday's NCAA Tournament announcement to see if its season can be extended. The Salukis won 40 games, which is seventh-most in the nation. SIU has five Quad 1 wins, which is the 12th-most for non-Power 5 schools in the nation, and went 9-5 against the RPI top-100. Of its nine top-100 RPI wins, seven were true road games. The Salukis have been one of the best offensive teams in the nation all season long and rank second in the nation in hits and fourth in runs. SIU had a 14-game winning streak this season, which ranks as the fifth-longest in the nation this year. Â
"The thing that makes them special is the thing that the fans and the community don't get to see, and that's the dedication and work ethic that they have," Rhodes said. "You guys get to see them perform on game day, and they perform extremely well because of all the hours and extra work that they put in. That's what makes it so special. Winning games is a byproduct of all the work that they put in. They're just great people that work extremely hard. That's how you build a special culture."'
SIU took an early 5-0 lead. Indiana State (30-18) hit a two-run homer to get within 5-2, but turned the game around with a six-run sixth inning highlighted by a grand slam and emphatic bat flip by Ellison Hanna II.Â
In the next half-inning, SIU loaded the bases with no outs, and J.T. Weber hit a missile line drive up the middle. Instead of at least a run-scoring single, the ball wedged between the ribs and the forearm of pitcher Matt Jachec, who doubled off the runner at second, and SIU didn't score in the inning. Still, the Salukis fought until the end. Tristan Peters hit a two-run homer in the ninth to put the tying run in the on-deck circle.Â
"I knew our guys wouldn't quit," Rhodes said. "The fight and passion to get back into the game was there. It showed in the ninth. We were right there in the ninth. All we needed was one base runner, and their dugout was going to be nervous; I can tell you that. I'm so proud of the effort that we had. It hurts and stings because we didn't win the tournament like we wanted to, but we never quit, even in the two games that we lost."
If the Salukis aren't selected to the NCAA Tournament, the 2021 Salukis proved themselves as a resurgent program. SIU won 40 games in a season for the sixth time ever and first time in 31 seasons, since the 1990 team went 49-14. Southern Illinois earned a national ranking and were ranked as high as No. 22 in the nation this season. A 19-game winning streak, which started at the end of the 2020 season, was the second-longest in program history. The team went 5-5 against the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is the seventh-best league in the nation by RPI this season, ahead of the Big Ten, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Big East, West Coast and 16 other conferences.Â
As a team, SIU hit .297 and shattered the school record with 84 home runs. SIU scored 439 runs, which is the second-most in program history. Individually, Nick Neville broke SIU's 41-year-old single-season home run record with 17, and seven players hit .299 or better on the season.Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jachec,Matt (1-0)
L: Hall, Bubba (1-2)
S: Grauer,Tyler (4)
Batting:
2B: Magill,Grant 1
HR: II,Ellison Hanna 1 ; Wright,Max 1 ; Cusumano,Dominic 1
RBI: Schaffer,Jordan 1 ; II,Ellison Hanna 4 ; Wright,Max 1 ; Cusumano,Dominic 2 ; Ross,Sean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Schaffer,Jordan 1 ; II,Ellison Hanna 1 ; Wright,Max 1 ; Urdaneta,Josue 1 ; Magill,Grant 2 ; Cusumano,Dominic 2 ; Ross,Sean 1
HBP: Rivera,Miguel 2
Batting:
HR: Peters, Tristan 1 ; Rask, Tony 1
RBI: Peters, Tristan 3 ; Archer, Philip 1 ; Walters, Ian 1 ; Rask, Tony 1
SF: Archer, Philip 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cleveland, Cody 1 ; Weber, J.T. 2 ; Peters, Tristan 2 ; Neville, Nick 1 ; Rask, Tony 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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