Wild pitching from the Redhawks led to a 21-4 rout for SIU baseball on March 24 in Cape Girardeau. The Southeast Missouri State pitching staff gave up 13 walks to the Salukis.

After struggling to get their offense going against Marshall on Sunday, scoring only two runs, the Southern Illinois(18-1, 3-1 MVC) offense put 21 runners across the plate against the Redhawks today.

Southern tacked on their first two runs of the game in the first inning, loading the bases after senior infielder Nick Neville was walked.

Advertisement

The Redhawks (10-9, 4-2 OVC) sophomore pitcher Hunter Ralls walked sophomore outfielder Tristan Peters to bring in senior infielder Ian Walters from third base.

Ralls was replaced after walking Peters by junior pitcher Hayden Malenfant, who gave up one more run in the inning on a fielder’s choice, which brought Saluki freshman outfielder Evan Martin home to lead 2-0 after one inning.

SEMO was able to get one run back in their half of the first inning on a fielding error by SIU, which brought Redhawks sophomore outfielder Jevon Mason home.

The Salukis broke the game open in the second inning with seven runs crossing the plate, five of those runs coming off of home runs from Neville and sophomore outfielder Vinni Massaglia.

Sophomore pitcher Matthew Steidl replaced sophomore pitcher Bubba Hall in the third inning, and SEMO put up two runs on Steidl in the inning with Southern still leading 9-3.

The Saluki offense put three more runs up on SEMO; this time, Peters brought Neville home on a double, Massaglia scored on a passed ball, then senior catcher Austin Ulick brought senior first baseman Philip Archer home with a single to center field.

An opposite field grand slam by Archer furthered the gap in the ninth inning, as Southern tacked on eight more runs in the eighth and ninth innings to defeat the Redhawks 19-3.

Advertisement*

After giving up the three early runs in the game, the SIU bullpen held the SEMO offense to only three hits across five innings of play.

Junior pitcher Trey McDaniel came in to finish the game out for the Salukis and allowed two batters to reach, and with a single to right field the Redhawks scored their fourth run, which proved to be their final one as SIU won 21-4.

Up next for the Salukis, they will face off in a three-game series against the University of Arkansas Little Rock with first pitch on Friday in Carbondale at 6 p.m.

Sports Reporter Adam Warfel can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.

To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois sports news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

Advertisement