The Saluki baseball team had its first midweek shutout victory since May 3, 2011.

The Salukis (20-17, 3-6) took on the Austin Peay State University Governors (14-23, 6-9) and beat them for the second time this season 3-0.

Coach Ken Henderson made only minor adjustments from Tuesday’s lineup, which was established after the Saluki hitters were struggling.

Freshman right-handed pitcher Austin McPheron made his third start and tenth appearance of the season. He tossed six scoreless innings and only gave up three hits, which set him up for his second win of the season.

McPheron had his longest outing of the season, but Henderson said pitching coach PJ Finigan probably wanted him to stay in the ballgame.

McPheron said he likes starting more than coming out of the bullpen. He has not given up any runs as a reliever, but had five earned runs in his first two starts.

“It takes me forever to warm up,” McPheron said. “When I get sent down to the bullpen, I don’t feel ready. I like being able to key in to the game and get mentally prepared.”

McPheron said he tried hitting his spots in his warm up before the game rather than throwing the ball right down the middle. He said the offense had momentum after Tuesday’s 16-5 victory against the University of Tennessee-Martin.

“We didn’t put that many runs on the board,” McPheron said. “But we had a lot of good approaches at the plate.”

The Salukis had more doubles Tuesday than they had hits Wednesday, but the team shortened its swings. Senior catcher Matt Jones was hitless last week and did not start against UT Martin but went 2 for 3 and scored a run from the eighth hole Wednesday.

“I just kind of relaxed,” Jones said. “It’s good that I got two hits, but I felt more relaxed and we’ll see if I can build on that.”

Jones said McPheron’s pitching style doesn’t strike a lot of hitters out, but is still hard to get hits off of.

“He gets a little ahead of himself at times,” Jones said. “As a freshman, he’s learned to slow it down and he’s done pretty well for us.”

Senior Jake Welch batted from the third spot for the second time and recorded two hits. Welch has a batting average of .444 while batting third. Welch batted leadoff for most of the season, but the team hasn’t lost production from the leadoff man.

Freshman center fielder Dyllin Mucha has the second highest batting average on the team at .339. He led off for the second game in a row and went 1 for 3. He has hits in 10 of his last 11 games.

Freshman Kyle Pruemer and senior Lee Weld each pitched one scoreless inning and had almost identical numbers. Each gave up one hit and recorded one strikeout. The only difference was Pruemer throwing 13 pitches to Weld’s 12.

Senior Tyler Dray was called on in the ninth inning for his sixth save opportunity of the season. He allowed one walk and struck out two without giving up any runs to secure the Salukis victory.

SIU plays a three-game series this weekend at Wichita State University.

The Shockers (18-18, 3-6) were picked to finish the Missouri Valley Conference in first, but they currently sit in last behind the Salukis.

“We could very easily be 8-1 in the league right now and we’re 3-6,” Henderson said. “We’ve been in every game so we need to get out and figure out a way to win the series.”

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