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Salukis swept last weekend by Tennessee Tech

Walks and whiffs against a really tough opponent led to a weekend of woe for the SIU baseball team Friday and Saturday.

SIU's team couldn't win for losing in match-ups against Tennessee Tech, as the Salukis lost 4-0, 11-4 and 18-5 at TTU's place.

In the first game last Friday, it rained errors, and those errors decided the game. SIU ace Michael Baird only gave up one earned run in six innings of work but had two consecutive double plays muffed behind him as Tech scored two unearned runs and went on to win 4-0.

"We kicked the ball around too much to win a well-pitched game," SIU coach Ken Henderson said.

Baird's relief, Noah Farner, also only gave up one earned run, but SIU's offense was helpless against the Golden Eagles' top-notch pitching.

In that 4-0 loss, SIU batters struck out an amazing 14 times in nine innings.

"Tip your hat to their pitchers," Henderson said. "They are as good as we've seen so far this year."

In the double-header losses Saturday, the offense got worse - and unfortunately, so did the Saluki pitching. Again, SIU batters could not catch up with Tech pitchers.

"We struck out 27 times in Saturday's double-header," Henderson said. "We also gave up 22 walks in two games. You are not going to beat anyone doing that, let alone a good team."

In the first loss Saturday (11-4), Tech got four runs on only two hits in the second inning, and so it went until the fourth. By then, SIU had gifted Tech with four more for a 8-1 Golden Eagles lead.

Logan Blackfan and Addison Fugit were SIU's only offensive threats in the two losses. In the first game, Blackfan had a two-run homer, and Fugit had a solo dinger, but it was not enough given the pitching struggles.

SIU's Jamison Steege got tagged with the first loss (4-3 record) after giving up eight earned runs. It didn't get any better in the second game of Saturday's disaster.

In the getaway game, SIU's Bard Harrison could not stem the Golden Eagle tide as Tech scored eight runs in the first five innings (8-3 Tech lead) and then tacked on 10 more in the next three frames to turn the game into a rout.

Thus, Tech got its 23rd win in a row, which is an Ohio Valley Conference record and leads the nation in 2018.

And what does SIU get? Perhaps a breather. This Friday, the Dawgs travel to Evansville to continue Missouri Valley action. The Aces are a putrid 7-25 for the season (1-4 in the MVC).

The Salukis (4-5 in the MVC) could jump back into conference contention by sweeping the struggling Aces in three games. Those three games start with a 6 p.m. televised game (ESPN3) this Friday.