SIU baseball Fast starts by Saluki baseball leads to wins
SIU's Diamond Dawgs upped their pre-Valley record to 13-9 by taking two of a three-game series from Morehead State last weekend at Itchy Jones Field in Carbondale. The Salukis will travel today, March 29 to Butler for another series starting at 3 p.m.
Last week's series was an important non-conference one for the Salukis in that it was a measuring stick. Morehead was the pre-season favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference and sported a 16-5 record before dropping two of three to the Dawgs.
Last week's series win featured the winners of the three games jumping out to early leads, whether it was SIU or the Eagles. SIU won Friday's first game 9-8 by jumping out to 5-0 third inning lead. SIU scored two in the first two innings and one more in the bottom of the third.
The Salukis held off the Birds by scoring four runs to eight for Morehead the rest of the way. But the Dawgs took a step back the next day.
Morehead's 7-0 Saturday afternoon win at Itchy Jones Field was basically over after the second inning. The Eagles scored five in the top of that inning and two more the rest of the way to shut out the Dawgs.
In Sunday's rubber game, the same "first to score wins" philosophy also prevailed. SIU scored in each of the first two innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead. But, like the Friday win, it wasn't over 'til it was over. The Hawks came back with three runs in the top of the third (4-3 SIU lead), and then tied the contest 4-4 with a run in the top of the fourth.
And that's the way game stayed score-wise until the 11th inning. Top relievers Justin Yeager and Sam Grace finished the last 7.3 innings of the total of 11.
"Obviously a great job by Yeager, but Grace was phenomenal," said SIU coach Ken Henderson. "Grace just threw up zeros, pitching without any fear."
Oddly enough, Yeager got the win even though he pitched but 1.1 innings of the last seven. Yeager was fortunate enough to shut the Eagles out in the top of the 11th, and SIU edged across the walk-away win run in the bottom of the frame.
In that 11th, J.T. Weber singled to lead off and then was sacrificed over. Gregg Epps (1-3 for the day) singled him home.
This was an odd game beyond it being another "first to lead wins" example. SIU was outhit 12 to six and incurred three errors.
But the big stat of the game was SIU's efficiency - and the Eagles' inability to get key hits. Morehead left 12 men on base while the Dawgs left but three. That efficiency, plus jumping out to leads in their two wins, were key the whole weekend.
The Eagles outhit the Dawgs in each and every game (12-11, 11-7 and 12-6). Great fielding and clutch pitching also helped with the series win.
Butler will be a tough test, too. They were 13-9 as of last Sunday, so winning this weekend's series will further help out the 2019 Salukis if they should be so fortunate as to be eligible for an at-large tourney bid.