Jack Robinson

Daily Egyptian

Senior outfielders Rennie Troggio and Austin Montgomery accounted for five RBIs and four runs in the Salukis’ 10-9 win against Austin Peay State University.

The Salukis hosted the Austin Peay State University Governors for the two teams’ second matchup of the 2013 season. APSU grabbed the 11-8 win at home during their the previous matchup, but SIU outscored the Governors Wednesday and improved their seasonal record to 16-16.

Freshman pitcher Anthony Shimkus started in his his first NCAA game of his career. Shimkus struck out three batters and allowed four earned runs in three innings. Junior pitcher Matt Murphy then relieved Shimkus in the fourth, pitched three hitless innings and grabbed the win to improve his personal record to 3-1.

“Murphy did another great job,” head coach Ken Henderson said. “Both teams were in the bullpen in the fourth inning. For him to throw up some zeroes and allow us to take the lead, I thought that was huge.”

The Salukis posted a season-high 25 runs Tuesday against Southeastern Missouri State University, and the offense did not fade Wednesday as players notched 10 runs off 11 hits. Senior outfielder Austin Montgomery led the team with three hits and three RBIs off five at-bats. Senior outfielder Rennie Troggio continued his offensive success after being just one hit away from the cycle on Tuesday’s game. Troggio went two for three and drove in two RBIs.

Coach Henderson said he was excited with the team’s offense performance through this week’s games.

“We had some crucial ABs where guys delivered, and we executed when we had to,” he said. “We scored 10 runs against a pretty good ball club, so I was pleased with our offensive effort.”

The biggest run surge came in the sixth inning when Troggio, Montgomery and senior catcher Luke Mottashed notched RBIs and scored a combined five runs. The inning’s first runs came when Troggio hit the ball to left and scored two runners. Montgomery then hit a single to left field to drive in two more runs. The final run of the game came when Mottashed singled to right field to score Montgomery.

However, the Governors threatened the Saluki lead in the bottom of the ninth when they started a small rally. Junior pitcher Todd Eaton had earned two outs against APSU when junior infielder Brett Carlson started the Governors off with a single to center field and a stolen second base. APSU junior outfielder Rolando Gautier then doubled to left center in the next at-bat, and Carlson scored to make the score 8-10. Eaton then threw a wild pitch, and Gautier scored to come within one run of the Salukis.

Eaton got APSU freshman first baseman Kyle Schlatter to hit a fielder’s choice with two runners on base to end the game.

Despite the win, Henderson said the ninth inning was a little to close for him.

“We played eight good innings of baseball,” he said. “We just need to work on finishing, but we got the last out. It’s a W, and we’ll take it.”

Jack Robinson can be reached at [email protected] or 536-3311 ext.269.