April showers bring Saluki batting powers

April showers bring Saluki batting powers

By Aaron Graff

The Saluki baseball team came back from a six-run deficit Wednsday to edge the Murry State Thoroughbreads.

SIU baseball (16-12, 1-2) hosted the Thoroughbreds (13-13) at Itchy Jones Stadium and came away with a 10-9 victory.

The Salukis and Thoroughbreds have used 29 combined pitchers in two outings against each other this season.

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Freshman pitcher Connor McFadden (1-1) had his seventh start of the season, but only recorded one out. He had four earned runs on two hits and two walks, before coach Ken Henderson made his first pitching change.

“We certainly didn’t play our best and we’ve done it a few times and won,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t tell me anything because I already knew we had a team with good character and a team that played hard.”

Henderson said he might find a different role for McFadden. McFadden is a hard worker, but his confidence is not good after his recent outings, he said.

“He’s just struggling to find it right now,” Henderson said. “He’s got good stuff, nobody hits him hard, but he gets himself in trouble.”

Senior pitcher Brad Drust made his first appearance of the season and gave up four hits and one run.

The Salukis scored four runs in the third inning, which started with a one-out double from senior second basemen Ryan Rosthenhausler.

Rosthenhausler went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, two RBIs and two walks. He has hits in nine of the last 10 games and has a batting average over .300 now.

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Senior pitcher Matt Murphy (1-0) gave up a run in the fifth to make the score 7-4, but the Salukis scored two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 7-6.

SIU took its first lead in the seventh off an RBI double from senior catcher Matt Jones. The 10-9 lead stuck for the rest of the game.

“It’s good to get on a winning streak here,” Jones said. “We’ve won two games in a row now before Bradley.”

Freshman pitcher Kyle Pruemer (2-3) was brought in to pitch the seventh, which set him up for his second win of the season.

Jones was substituted into the game for freshman catcher Jake Hand. Hand went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a walk.

“Overall he’s going to be a really good catcher for Henderson during the next four years,” Jones said.

Freshman third basemen Will Farmer had his fourth consecutive start at the hot corner. Freshman infielder Ryan Sabo started the last 11 games before this game. Henderson said Farmer is a better defensive option and will start the next couple of games, as long as he has some offensive production.

Senior Tyler Dray (0-0) was called on to close the game and earned his fifth save of the season. Dray said almost every reliever should be able to throw for this weekend’s series.

“We’ll be all right,” Dray said. “Everyone who threw Tuesday should be fine for the weekend series to start off, and only the guys who threw multiple innings will be questionable for Friday, but we have a really deep bullpen.”

The Salukis play the first official night game at Itchy Jones Stadium 6:30 p.m. Friday in Carbondale.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269

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