CARBONDALE,
Ill.
- The Indiana State baseball team claimed their 12th straight series
win and sixth consecutive in Missouri Valley Conference play, taking advantage
of four errors by the Southern Illinois defense in the second inning en route
to a 7-5 victory at Abe Martin Field.
Indiana State (39-12, 12-5 MVC) moves into sole possession of first place in
the conference with the win, as Missouri State dropped a 3-1 decision to
Evansville. The Sycamores also won their first series in Carbondale since 2000.
The Sycamores tallied six unearned runs in the second inning, as the Salukis
made four errors in the frame. The miscues started when junior Rob Ort rolled a
ground ball to first baseman Chris Serritella, who bobbled the ball and could
not get a hustling Ort at first base. Senior Jon Hedges came up next and hit a
ground ball to third that Austin Montgomery bobbled, allowing Ort to slide in
safely ahead of the throw at second base. Donny Duschinsky then threw the ball
to first base to try to get Hedges, but his throw went wide of the bag and
advanced Ort to third.
Senior Lucas Hileman got ISU on the scoreboard, dropping a RBI single to center
before ISU loaded the bases on senior Ryan Walterhouse's walk. Sophomore Owen Conway made it 2-0 ISU with a sacrifice fly to center when he came up next. SIU
made their fourth error of the inning when sophomore Tyler Wampler drew a walk
with Hileman on second and Walterhouse on first. Hileman and Walterhouse were
running on the full-count pitch, but Luke Mottashed's throw to third base
sailed into left field and allowed Hileman to score. Freshman Landon Curry (RBI
sacrifice bunt), redshirt junior Koby Kraemer (single to center) and Ort
(double to right) all followed with RBIs at the Sycamores took a 6-0 lead.
ISU tacked on their seventh run of the game in the sixth when Kraemer sent a
sacrifice fly to center that scored Conway.
Indiana State took a 7-3 lead to the bottom of the ninth inning, but Southern
Illinois did not go down quietly. Brian Bajer started the inning with a single
to left before Rennie Troggio drew a walk from junior Devin Moore. Senior
Reggie Hochstedler came into the game in relief, retiring Jake Welch before
Duschinsky load the bases with a walk and Serritella made it 7-4 with a walk of
his own. With the winning run at the plate, Hochstedler and Montgomery battled
through a lengthy at-bat, as Montgomery narrowly missing a potentially
bases-clearing doubled down the left field line as his long drive fell just
foul. Montgomery would end his at-bat with a sacrifice fly to left to cut the
ISU lead to 7-5.
Senior Chris Machado came in from the bullpen with two on and two outs, ending
the game by forcing a lineout to center by Jordan Sivertsen. Machado picked up
his third save of the season.
Sophomore Sean Manaea earned the win and improved to 5-1 on the season,
striking out seven in 5.1 innings of work while scattering six hits. Senior
Brandon Dorsett relieved Manaea in the sixth, entering the game with the bases
loaded and one out, but did not allow a run in the inning. Redshirt freshman
Tyler Pazik also worked 1.1 scoreless innings on the mound.
Ort, Hileman and Conway all picked up two hits on Saturday, with Kraemer
driving in a pair of runs.
Indiana State goes for the series sweep at 2:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, sending
junior Ryan Torgerson (7-2, 2.92 ERA) to the mound against Sam Coonrod (2-4,
5.25 ERA) for Southern Illinois. ISU has not swept an MVC opponent since taking
three from Evansville in Terre Haute at the end of the 2009 season. ISU's last
sweep of SIU on the road came in a three-game series back in 1992.
