Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
As one would expect, there was a great Twitter reaction to last night’s stunning upset as No. 16 UMBC beats No. 1 Virginia — the first time in NCAA history that a No. 16 has beaten a top seed.
Here’s the Twitter feed at Sports Daily.
http://thesportsdaily.com/the-sports-daily/twitter-reacts-to-umbcs-massive-upset-over-uva/
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Jairus Lyles couldn’t suppress a smile, knowing that a school known more for chess than hoops had finally made it happen — a 16 ousting a 1 in March Madness.
Here’s the link to the story.
Southern Illinois hosts No. 24-ranked Illinois for a three game series this weekend at Itchy Jones Stadium. The teams will play a noon doubleheader on Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
GAME 1 – Saturday, March 17 // 12 p.m. // ESPN3 | Live Stats
SIU RHP Michael Baird (1-1, 2.42 ERA, 26.0 IP)
ILL RHP Quinn Snarskis (1-0, 2.70 ERA, 20.0 IP)
GAME 2 – Saturday, March 17 // 3 p.m. // ESPN3 | Live Stats
SIU LHP Jamison Steege (1-1, 3.42 ERA, 23.2 IP)
ILL LHP Andy Fisher (1-0, 3.20 ERA, 19.2 IP)
GAME 3 – Sunday, March 18 // 1 p.m. // ESPN3 | Live Stats
SIU LHP Brad Harrison (3-0, 1.12 ERA, 24.0 IP)
ILL RHP Ty Weber (2-1, 3.63 ERA, 22.1 IP)
AROUND THE HORN
SALUKIS HOST ILLINI AT ITCHY JONES STADIUM
RUN WITH US
HARRISON MOVES TO THE WEEKEND ROTATION
SALUKI SENIORS AMONG ACTIVE LEADERS IN NCAA DIVISION I
A good pitching performance from senior Savanna Dover bolstered the Salukis to a victory over UT-Martin in the first mid-week game of the season.
“We played pretty well today apart from a little mix-up in the first inning,” head coach Kerri Blaylock said. “I thought Savanna Dover settled down and threw a really good ball game. I thought we hit the ball hard all day. The wind was blowing in a little bit so we couldn’t get anything to go out. We just hung in there until the end.”
The Salukis opened the scoring in the top of the first when sophomore Katelyn Massa singled up the middle to score fellow sophomore Maddy Vermejan from second.
The Skyhawks answered in the bottom of the first when Dover committed her one glaring mistake of the game when she threw the ball into right field while trying to throw out a runner at first. Another throwing error on the play allowed UT-Martin’s leadoff hitter to score and tie the game at 1-1.
Dover settled down after the rocky first inning. She allowed just two hits and a walk until being taken out of the game in the sixth inning.
For as good as Dover was, Martin’s starter Caitlin Karo matched her. Karo threw five-straight shutout innings and kept her team in the game until the top of the seventh when Massa struck again to score Vermejan from second for the go-ahead run.
“Coming in [Karo] had below a 2.00 ERA,” Blaylock said. “I felt really good getting a couple of earned runs off of her. We finished it off.”
Junior Brianna Jones earned the win to improve to 12-1 on the season. Jones struck out two in 1.1 innings pitched.
Massa generated all of the Salukis runs in the game by bookending the game with RBI hits to score Vermejan. Massa was 4-4 on the day with 2 RBI. Vermejan was 1-3 with two runs scored.
“Kate and Maddy had a great day today along with our pitching,” Blaylock said. “Massa was really, really good today and I’m really proud of her.”
The win came in Blaylock’s 1,000th game of her career. She is Southern’s all-time leader in wins with 642 and one of two coaches in the program’s history.
With the win, the Salukis improved to 14-9 on the season. It was Southern’s seventh win in 10 games and the fourth out of its last five games. Looking forward, the Salukis take their momentum into the start of the MVC season when they hosts Loyola for three games at Charlotte West Stadium.
“If we continue to clean up our defensive mistakes, I feel like we’re in pretty good shape,” Blaylock said.
The Salukis play Loyola in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon.
By Katie Sandusky
FAIRFIELD – The Lady Vols returned back to action today at Frontier College in Fairfield Illinois. Game one had Sydney Levan on the mound. She allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in seven innings.
The Vols bats came alive in the 5th inning with back to back homeruns by Taja Dedecker and Lynnsay Wilson. Mikayla Chamness added 3 doubles of her own to help with the cause. Lexi Childers and a Taylor Rogers each chipped in two hits a piece. Winning game one 9-2.
Bailey Anderson took the mound in game 2 for the Vols. Anderson gave up only 1 hit through 3 solid innings not allowing a run and picking up the win. Alyssa Wright entered in relief and gave up two runs in her two innings of work.
Coach Orsburn-Siefert was very pleased with her pitching staff today with everyone contributing.
On the offensive side in game two, Lexi Childers lead the way by going 4-4, 3 RBI, and a stolen base. Taja Dedecker racked up a double and a total of 7 RBI’s on the day. Lynnsay Wilson added two hits and 4 RBI in game two as well as Mikayla Chamness tallying another double and single in game two. Ally Vaughn scattered two hits with 2’RBI in game two. Winning game two 16-2 in 5 innings.
Coach Orsburn-Siefert stated that she was pleased with the offensive production throughout the entire line up 1-9. She believes her young team is beginning to compete better and just hopes Mother Nature begins to cooperate so the team and continue to “gel”! She states that they are fun to watch when they are focused and that just comes with playing time.
ST LOUIS, MO – For the fourth time this year and the fifth time in his career, Southern Illinois men’s golfer Peyton Wilhoit has earned the Missouri Valley Conference Golfer of the Week award.
A junior from Searcy, Arkansas, Wilhoit placed third this week at the South Florida Invitational at 3-over par. It marked the fourth-straight tournament in which he has placed in the top 10 on the leader board, including a 10th-place showing at the Wyoming Intercollegiate, first at the Kennesaw State Intercollegiate, and taking fifth place at the LSU Intercollegiate. He is 13-under par combined during the four-tournament stretch.
The Salukis will play three more tournaments this spring — the William & Mary Intercollegiate, Arkansas State Intercollegiate and Purdue Invitational — before hosting the MVC Championships at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on April 23-24.
MARION – The Marion Wildcats make it to the Elite Eight as they defeated Springfield Southeast 56-51. Justin Saddoris led the Wildcats with 13, Terell Henderson and Jadon Lacy added 10.
Marion Coach Gus Gillespe told Scott Mees of the Southern Illinoisan, “It wasn’t one of our better performances, but maybe you give Southeast credit for the way they do things defensively. The part of the game I’d like to get back was the first quarter. I should have gotten us out of our defense earlier.”
LINK FROM SCOTT MEES OF THE SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN
LINK FROM BILL WELT OF THE SPRINGFIELD JOURNAL-REGISTER
By John Lock – siusalukis.com
JONESBORO, Ark. – The Southern Illinois baseball team scored five runs in the ninth inning to take a brief 8-7 lead, but Arkansas State tied the game in the ninth and won it in the 11th to end Southern’s five-game winning streak.
“We didn’t play well most of the night, but we battled,” SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. “We had a big ninth inning to give ourselves a chance; but at the end of the day, we just made too many mistakes.”
SIU (8-9) and Arkansas State (8-5) each committed four errors in the game. Southern scored an unearned run in the first inning, then committed two errors in the second inning to hand Arkansas State three unearned runs. The first earned run of the game wasn’t scored until the sixth inning.
“We have to learn to play on grass,” Henderson said. “We play on turf every day at home, and it seems like we can’t play defense on grass. That’s something we have to clean up.”
A-State took a 4-1 lead into the seventh before SIU got two runs back to make it 4-3, but the Red Wolves answered with a three-run bottom half to extend the lead to 7-3.
The Salukis mounted a furious rally in the ninth. Austin Ulick drew a walk, and J.T. Weber followed with a home run to bring SIU within 7-5. Nikola Vasic reached on an error, and Addison Fugitt drew a walk to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Connor Kopach blasted a three-run shot to left field to give SIU the lead.
But Arkansas State tied the game in the ninth without the benefit of a hit. The Red Wolves drew back-to-back walks to open the inning, then bunted them into scoring position. With the winning run on second base, SIU played the infield back, and A-State tied the game with an RBI groundout.
“Our bench was tremendous,” Henderson said. “We truly thought we were going to score and get it done, and we did. We just have to finish.”
SIU struck out 13 times in the game, four of which were in the two extra innings.
“We made mistakes on defense, and we made some mistakes base running, but the biggest thing was striking out 13 times,” Henderson said. “You don’t give yourself a chance to get on base. We worked on that yesterday more than anything, and we talked about it. That’s the biggest disappointment from the game.”
SIU pitched a bullpen game, so starter Brad Harrison pitched only two innings. His scoreless inning streak was snapped at 19 innings, but the three runs were unearned and he lowered his season ERA to 1.12. Dylan Givensrelieved Harrison and threw 3.2 good innings, allowing just one run and striking out three.
Henry Boeckmann pitched a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts. Freshman Trey McDaniel worked through the heart of Arkansas State’s order in the 10th to extend the game to the 11th inning before taking the loss in the 11th. In the game, SIU pitching stranded 12 A-State base runners.
Southern’s offense stole six bases in the game. Connor Kopach was 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Addison Fugitt went 1-for-4 with two walks. Ulick and Weber, who both came off the bench, combined to go 2-for-3 with three walks and three runs scored.
SIU welcomes No. 24 Illinois to Itchy Jones Stadium for a three-game series this weekend. Friday’s first pitch for the series opener is scheduled for 4 p.m.
BOX SCORE
http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?path=baseball&id=8062
EVANSVILLE, IN – Marty Simmons will not be retained as men’s basketball head coach at the University of Evansville, ending an 11-year tenure at his alma mater. Sources confirmed that an announcement by the university will take place Wednesday morning.
A message left for Simmons was not immediately returned.
Simmons compiled an overall record of 184-175 and 82-116 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Under his watch, the Aces played in the postseason five times and won the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2015. However, the program’s drought of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament or National Invitational Tournament has stretched to 19 seasons.
Please click on the link for the full story from Pat Hickey of the Evansville Courier and Press.
-Armon Fletcher pulls up for a jumper in a home win against Missouri State. (Madison Case, SIU Salukis photo)
By Tom Weber – siusalukis.com
Southern Illinois junior guard Armon Fletcher was named First-Team All-District by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) on Tuesday. Team members are selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC in NCAA Division I.
The Edwardsville, Illinois native led SIU in scoring with 14.1 points per game and was second in rebounding with 5.1 rebounds per contest. He shot 48.6 from the field and 34.8 percent from 3-point range and scored double figures in all but four games. A Second-Team All-MVC pick, Fletcher had a career night at Valparaiso on Jan. 6 with 32 points and 14 rebounds. He made the game-winning basket at Missouri State with six seconds left, and the go-ahead 3-pointer versus Valparaiso in Carbondale with less than a minute left on Feb. 3.
NABC District 16
First Team
Alize Johnson, Missouri State
Clayton Custer, Loyola
Armon Fletcher, Southern Illinois
Reed Timmer, Drake
Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State
Second Team
Ryan Taylor, Evansvile
Phil Fayne, Illinois State
Donte Ingram, Loyola
Darrell Brown, Bradley
Jordan Barnes, Indiana State
