Salukis win fourth-straight, beat Central Arkansas in series opener

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Oct 17

2 PM

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Eastern Illinois University

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2 PM

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Central Methodist University

CARBONDALE, Ill. — A six-run eighth inning was the difference for the Southern Illinois University baseball team as it defeated the Central Arkansas Bears, 11-6 Saturday to win its fourth-straight game and take the opener of the three-game series.

After the lead see-sawed back and forth for much of the game, Southern used six hits to plate six runs in the eighth inning which proved to be the difference.

"At the beginning and in the middle of the game we were sloppy in several different areas," head coach Lance Rhodes said. "Im proud of the way we finished the game because we overcame that which is a sign of a good team that we didn't just continue to play nine innings of sloppy baseball. We finished strong and hopefully that will carry on throughout the series."

J.T. Weber led off the eighth with a single, Pier-Oliver Boucher followed with a single of his own and Jeremy Schork was plunked with a pitch to load the bases with no outs for Evan Martin. Martin battled through a seven pitch at-bat to drive a ball to the gap in right center and plate two.

"That was the biggest at-bat of the game," Rhodes said of Martin's double. "He fouled off pitch after pitch after pitch and UCA's pitcher had a split finger fastball that he seemed hesitant to throw with the bases loaded. He kept going back to his fastball and Evan finally timed one up."

After Martin's double, Zack Jensen brought two more in to score with a pinch hit single and Cody Cleveland added two more runs with his second home run of the season.

The Salukis drove in 10-plus runs and tallied double-digit hits for the fourth-straight game. SIU's 1-through-6 hitters all had at least one hit in the victory, led by Boucher, who was 4-for-4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle.

"When you think of the middle of our order, they've got to pitch to someone," Rhodes said. "You cant walk or pitch around everybody. It's a tough lineup to maneuver around for the opposition."

Tanner Lewis threw two-innings of no-hit relief to earn the win on the mound. SIU's starting pitcher, Ben Chapman went four innings and allowed three earned runs before turning the ball over to Mike Hansell. Hansell threw two innings and allowed just three hits. Lewis came on before giving way to Jake Kuntzendorf with a comfortable six-run cushion.

"Central Arkansas had a really good approach," Rhodes said. "They were just trying to hit singles through the middle of the field. They weren't over-swinging and they didnt swing much outside of the strike zone so they really made it tough on our pitchers today. It was one of those games where we just have to pass the baton on the mound because we felt like the more that they saw of any one of our pitchers, the more comfortable they became at the plate."

Game two of the series with Central Arkansas gets underway Sunday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m.

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