Southern Illinois University
37-13, 13-4
Indiana State
32-19, 8-9
Epps HR ends 14-3 Saluki win; SIU tied for first place
05/14/2022 | 4:54:00 | Baseball
Carbondale, Il. … Saluki second baseman Grey Epps celebrated Senior Day a day early when he slammed a three-run home run in the bottom of the 7th inning to give the Salukis a 14-3 Saturday win over Indiana St. The run-rule win, combined with Evansville's 4-3 loss at Dallas Baptist, enabled SIU to tie Evansville for first place in the MVC. The win also gave SIU its first home series win vs. the Sycamores since 2008.
Epps' home run, his 20th of the season came with 2 outs in the bottom the seventh inning, was his 10th of the season and gave SIU it's second run-rule victory of the week (SIUE, 22-10, 5/10/22). It was one of Epps' 3 hits in Saturday's game. He also scored 3 runs.
Outfielder Nathan Bandy also homered in Saturday's game. The right-handed hitter's three-run blast to left field in the sixth inning was the first HR of his Saluki career. Pier-Olivier Boucher and Epps scored ahead of Bandy's HR.
Noah Farmer (6-1, 3-1) went the distance in the seven-inning game. It was his first complete game of the season and the second of his career, both versus Indiana St. (see Saluki Notes below).
SIU scored in every inning except the second inning.
An RBI single by Bandy and Jack Rigoni's run-scoring ground out accounted for SIU's first two runs in the second inning.
SIU added three more runs in the third inning on Zack Jensen's RBI single, Nick Hagedorn's sacrifice fly and an error by Sycamore third baseman Randall Diaz.
Kaeber Rog doubled in a run in the fourth inning and again in the fifth inning. The second double was his 20th of the season, the seventh most in one season in SIU history.
J.T. Weber singled in a run ahead of Rog's double in the fifth inning. It was Weber's 150th career RBI, sixth most in SIU history (Chris Serritella). Weber scored two more runs in Saturday's game to give him 160 runs scored in his career, good for seventh place in Saluki history.
SIU goes for its first three game sweep of a season series vs. Indiana St. since 2006 (at SIU) Sunday at 12 noon (CT)Â at Itchy Jones Stadium.
SALUKI NOTES: Farmer had a streak of 20 scoreless innings (2 starts, 3 relief appearance) vs. Indiana St. snapped when he allowed two, two out runs in the sixth inning … Farmer's lifetime record in 15-6 … Farmer is the only MVC pitcher with as many as 14 starts this season … He's worked 32 MVC innings this season. No other Saluki starter's totaled more than 19.1 innings in MVC play (Tanner Lewis) … Meanwhile, relievers Trey McDaniel and Matthew Steidl have tossed 23 and 34 innings respectively … Farmer's high school teammate, J.T. Weber, has not homered in the series. SIU's single-season HR record holder (18) remains one home run shy of the Saluki career HR record held by Robert Jones (36, 1983-86) … Epps' Saturday HR (his 10th) means SIU has at least 3 players with double digit HRs in one season for the second consecutive season; Epps (10), Weber (18) and Kaeber Rog (12). The last time SIU had 3 or more double-digit HR hitters in consecutive seasons was 1998 (3) and 1997 (4) … Epps was 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored and 4 RBIs … Pier-Olivier Boucher, with 6 hits in his previous 8 at-bats,  was 1 for 3 Saturday … Coach Lance Rhodes returned Weber to the second spot in the SIU lineup Saturday and Rog to the third spot Saturday after reversing them Friday …. Rog had two more hits Saturday and has a team-high 24 multi-hit games in 2022 … With Saturday's first inning run and eventual win, SIU is 26-1 when it scores first in 2022.Â
Coach Lance Rhodes Saluki Radio post game interview:Â https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=6341&type=Archive
2B Grey Epps Saluki Radio post game interview:Â https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=6339&type=Archive
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Farmer, Noah (6-1)
L: Cutts, Brennyn (2-3)
Batting:
2B: Gergely, Seth 1
RBI: Watson, Keegan 1 ; Kido, Joe 1 ; Thompson, Isaiah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Urdaneta, Josue 1 ; Diaz, Randall 1 ; Gergely, Seth 1
SB: Gergely, Seth 1
PO: Gergely, Seth 1
Batting:
2B: Rog, Kaeber 2 ; Rodriguez, Ryan 1
HR: Epps, Grey 1 ; Bandy, Nathan 1
RBI: Rigoni, Jack 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Rog, Kaeber 2 ; Epps, Grey 4 ; Jensen, Zack 1 ; Bandy, Nathan 4 ; Hagedorn, Nick 1
SH: Ortiz, J.D. 1
SF: Hagedorn, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weber, J.T. 2 ; Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Rodriguez, Ryan 2 ; Boucher, Pier-Olivier 3 ; Epps, Grey 4 ; Bandy, Nathan 2
SB: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Bandy, Nathan 1
HBP: Epps, Grey 1
