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CARBONDALE, Ill. – Dylan Givens pitched seven shutout innings, and the Southern Illinois baseball team beat Belmont 3-2 on Tuesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium. SIU (19-17) swept the mid-week home-and-home series from Belmont.
After a weekend series in Dallas, SIU’s plane was delayed and the team arrived in Carbondale at 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning, but the Salukis still managed to snap a mini three-game losing streak with the win over Belmont.
“I knew we would be a little tired today,” SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. “We got off the bus yesterday at 4:30 a.m. We did the same thing two years ago and came out the first part of the next week tired. I could tell early on we were a little lethargic. It’s not their fault. It’s to be expected. I knew we would have to grind and battle through, and we did that. We did a great job of gutting it out.”
Givens pitched his longest outing of the year and allowed only three hits through seven innings. Belmont (14-22) led off the game with a double, but Givens got out of the inning without giving up a run and cruised from there.
“Because of the travel, we really needed someone to go out on the mound and throw up zeros because we weren’t going to score a ton of runs,” Henderson said. “It’s a huge credit to Dylan Givens for giving us seven shutout innings. He gets better every time out.”
Logan Blackfan gave Givens an early 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. Addison Fugitt drove home another run in the fifth, and Blackfan came through with another two-out RBI to push Southern’s lead to 3-0.
After Givens departed after seven innings, Belmont scratched across two runs in the eighth on four singles. The Bruins had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with two outs, but Noah Farmer got out of the inning with a pop out.
Ryan Netemeyer extended his SIU record with his 34th career save, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
SIU right fielder Kenton Crawford made his first start in 10 days and responded with a double and two sensational plays. In the fourth inning, he made a full-extension diving catch in right center; and in the ninth inning, he made a sprinting grab to rob a leadoff double.
“If that gets by him, it’s probably a double and there’s nobody out,” Henderson said of Crawford’s ninth-inning catch. “They’re probably going to bunt him over. That was the play of the game. He had two Sportscenter-type plays. He played extremely well.”
SIU improved to 8-1 in mid-week games this season and 8-0 vs. OVC teams. With the win, SIU improved to 15-4 against unranked opponents over the last six weeks.
The Salukis host Murray State on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. in Itchy Jones Stadium. Hunter Hart will make his first start for SIU.
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