CARBONDALE, Ill. – Louisiana Monroe completed a three-game sweep of the Southern Illinois baseball team on Sunday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Warhawks scored four runs in the second inning and improved to 9-2 on the season after going 12-42 in 2017. SIU (3-8) outhit ULM 15-8 but stranded 12 runners.

The Salukis loaded the bases in the bottom of the first inning with nobody out but did not score. Then, in the top of the second inning, ULM scored four runs on four hits and an error to seize the lead and momentum. The game mirrored Saturday’s loss, when the Salukis took a 2-0 lead before allowing a seven-run second inning.

“In six different games, we’re one inning away from winning,” SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. “Now, we have to clean up that inning. We had the second inning today and the second inning yesterday. In four of our previous losses, we had leads in the eighth inning and didn’t hold on. Again, we have to clean that up. Some of it is our own doing, and some of it is not. This ball club has great makeup and great chemistry. There is no doubt in my mind that we will keep grinding and figure it out. I’ve given the team a couple examples of ball clubs that didn’t play well early and then got it going. I truly believe this team is going to do that. This club is going to get it going and win a lot of baseball games.”

Massac County’s Noah Farmer

Southern’s bullpen kept SIU in the game. Noah Farmer, a freshman, entered in the third inning. He threw 3.1 innings of two-hit baseball, allowing just one run while striking out three. He gave way to Allen Montgomery, who retired the first eight ULM hitters he faced. Montgomery ran into trouble in the ninth, but Trey McDaniel limited the damage.

“Our bullpen did a phenomenal job,” Henderson said. “They only had two hits in innings three through eight. Our bullpen threw up zeros. When you take your starter out after the second inning, you need guys to go in there, eat up innings, and throw up zeros. Farmer, Montgomery and McDaniel all did a great job. I’m extremely proud of our bullpen.”

Southern’s offense pounded out 15 hits and had at least one base runner in eight of its nine innings. All nine spots in the order reached base at least one time. Leadoff hitter Connor Kopach was outstanding, going 4-for-5. He created Southern’s first run in the third inning. After a one-out single, Kopach stole second and third, and he scored on Nikola Vasic‘s sacrifice fly.

ULM expanded its lead to 5-1 in the fourth, but SIU got the run back in the bottom half. Kenton Crawford drew a leadoff walk and Hunter Anderson followed with a single. After a fielder’s choice, Addison Fugitt scored Crawford with a sacrifice fly. Kopach singled, but the inning ended with Austin Ulick being thrown out at the plate. SIU put runners in scoring position in each of the final four frames, but ULM made the defensive plays to preserve its lead.

“This will start going our way, too,” Henderson said. “If seems like when you’re not winning, every ball they hit is just out of your reach; and every ball we hit is just within their reach. That’s the way it seems sometimes, but that will turn. It won’t be the case all year. This club will keep battling. You saw that last night, and you saw it again today. We got down, and there’s no quit.”

Despite being down 5-2, SIU brought the tying run to the plate in each of the final four innings. The Salukis got within 5-3 in the eighth after another Kopach RBI single. But Monroe answered with two runs in the top of the ninth to push the lead to 7-4. Again, SIU battled back. With two outs and nobody on, Southern strung together three-straight singles to bring the tying run to the plate with Kopach on deck, but a strikeout ended the game.

“We battled hard until the end and gave ourselves a chance,” Henderson said. “It was a lot like yesterday. We had a lot of hits, but we couldn’t get the key hit with runners in scoring position. We had better ABs today with runners in scoring position; we just couldn’t get that hit that busted it open. I’m extremely proud of how hard we grinded. We got the tying run to the plate

By Anthony McDaniel – siusalukis.com 

Pitching, defense and a big boost from the Saluki freshmen led SIU to an 8-0 win over Murray State on the final day of the Coach B Classic.

“Today we played very well in all phases of the game, Bri threw very well. Savannah Fisher had some great defensive plays and I thought we hit the ball very well,” head coach Kerri Blaylock said.

The game remained scoreless through two innings, but in the top of the third, the Saluki bats came alive. Freshman Jenny Jansen started things off with a one-out double. One batter later, an error by the Racer shortstop allowed Jansen to score and for sophomore Kyleigh Deckerto go to second. Two batters later, freshman Megan Brown hit a double to score Decker from second. Two batters later, senior Savannah Fisher singled with two on to score Brown from second. Sophomore Maddy Vermejan closed the scoring in the inning when she singled in a bases loaded situation to score freshman Shelby Hodo off of an error by the Racer short stop. Southern led 4-0 at the end of the third and never looked back.

An inning later, senior Sydney Jones hit a two out double. Her double was followed by a single from Brown that scored Jones from second.

Brown was pinch ran for by fellow freshman Maris Boelens, but Brown made a huge impact on the game in just four innings going 3-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. She hit .800 on the weekend with a double, 2 RBI and 2 walks.

Later in the fourth inning Hodo doubled to left center to score Boelens from second to make the score 6-0.

In the top of the sixth Boelens recorded a sacrifice RBI to the first baseman that scored Decker from third. Hodo recorded another RBI in the next at bat, this time off of a sacrifice fly to left to score senior Sydney Jones from third to make the score 8-0.

The Salukis freshmen combined to go 5-7 with five RBI, three doubles and four runs scored.

“We play a lot of freshmen and sophomore. They’re going to be a part of our lineup,” Baylock said. “It’s good to see them produce and get comfortable.”

While the Saluki offense wasn’t blowing up Racer pitching, starting pitcher Brianna Jones was keeping the Racer bats silent. She threw a six inning complete game allowing five hits striking out six and walking none. Jones improved to 8-1 on the season and has an ERA of 2.09.

The Saluki defense had its pitcher’s back throughout the whole game playing flawlessly in the game. Fisher led the way recording four assists at shortstop. Fisher committed two errors in a game against Michigan State on Feb. 18 and since has committed just one and recorded a total of 13 assists and 12 putouts.

“The thing about Fisher is the whole time last year at short stop she recorded five or six errors, which is just unreal for a college short stop,” Blaylock said. “We asked her to settle down and no matter what she’s doing at the plate, we want her to play great defense. Today was really something special out of her.”

With the win Southern improved to 9-8 on the season and won two of the last three following a tough start to the Coach B Classic on Friday. Blaylock said that she was pleased her team showed it can bounce back so well.

Overall, this year’s winner of the Coach B Classic was Illinois. The Illini won all five of its games. The weather gave the tournament a break providing clear skies and warm temperatures for early March.

“I love how well the tournament went,” Blaylock said. “When you get like this people want to come back and play here. I feel like our staff, facilities, our groundskeeper, everybody does such a great job and it makes people want to come here. It allows us to save money and gives our kids a chance to stay at home.”

The Salukis hit the road again this next weekend when they head to Tampa for the USF Under Armour Showcase hosted by South Florida. Southern will play five games throughout the weekend.

By William Becque  siusalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois women’s basketball team celebrated senior day with a 66-41 win over the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday afternoon inside SIU Arena.

The Salukis (16-13, 11-7 MVC) were led by their lone senior, Kylie Giebelhausen. Giebelhausen moved into ninth on SIU’s all-time scoring list and recorded her 300th career assist, as she finished with nine points and three assists in 29 minutes.

“It was a little bit surreal,” said Giebelhausen of her final regular season game. “I’m proud of what I’ve done here. I know some of my family members, my mom and some of my cousins especially, were emotional because they’ve been following me since I was a kid but I can’t really complain plus we got a win.”

SIU led from wire-to-wire in the win over Evansville (3-26, 0-18 MVC) as Southern got out to a 9-2 lead after five minutes of play and never looked back. The Purple Aces got to within one, 11-10 with 2:48 to play in the first, but Southern scored six-straight points and built a 13-point lead (32-19) at the half.

SIU doubled up Evansville in the third quarter, as the Salukis outscored the Purple Aces, 20-to-10 in the frame, with 14 of SIU’s 20 points coming in the paint. With a comfortable lead, Southern turned the game over to its reserves for the final 10 minutes.

The Salukis consistently worked the shot clock and utilized good ball movement throughout their regular-season finale, as SIU racked up 13 assists to just four turnovers.

“We wanted to work our offenses and share the ball,” fifth-year head coach Cindy Stein said of her team’s game plan going into Saturday’s contest. “Our ball movement needed to be better then it had been and I think we got that done.”

SIU’s four turnovers ties a school record low and are the fewest in a game by the Salukis in 10 years. Southern recorded just four giveaways in a 75-74 overtime win over Creighton on Jan. 20, 2008, and also tallied just four turnovers against Memphis State on March 17, 1983.

Three Salukis reached double figures in the win, led by Nicole Martin. Martin scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half and added seven rebounds, three assists and a steal in 17 minutes. It marked the sixth-straight game in which Martin has reached double figures, and the 22nd time she has done so this season.

Abby Brockmeyer notched her fifth career double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while Brittney Patrick added 10 points, four boards and two steals. Brockmeyer’s five double-doubles are tied with Mary Berghuis for the second-most by a freshman in program history.

All 11 Salukis who dressed played at least nine minutes and 10 of 11 scored. Southern won the rebounding battle, 39-to-32, which included 16 offensive boards.

Southern will now turn its attention to the 2018 MVC Tournament and Indiana State. The Salukis swept the season series against the Sycamores, including Thursday night’s 54-43 win.

When you’re trying to beat someone for the third time you have to find a way to win,” Stein said. “They’re going to do something different, you don’t know what its going to be. They have a week of practice, we have a week of practice. We’ll tweak a few things, they’ll tweak a few things. It’s going to be another gritty ballgame and we are looking forward to it.”

The Salukis are next in action at next week’s MVC Tournament in Moline, Ill. Southern, who holds the No. 4 seed, will take on Indiana State on Friday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m.