SIU baseball played at home for the first time in the 2025 campaign this weekend as they hosted the Screaming Eagles of the University of Southern Indiana and the Bowling Green State Falcons.
The Dawgs beat each team twice for a 4-0 record on the weekend.
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The Salukis kicked off the weekend with a Friday night game against USI in what turned out to be a high scoring affair.
SIU got off to a slow start offensively, not even getting into the hit column until the sixth inning, but once the first guy, Jordan Bach, got on, the floodgates opened. 5 runs followed in the sixth, one in the seventh and a whopping 10 in the eighth.
Michael Mylott, Cecil Lofton, John Lemm and Jaxon Holder were all big in the winning effort to begin the weekend.
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Mylott drove two runs in with a home run in the sixth and scored three times, while Lofton and Lemm each plated two of their teammates and scored twice themselves. Lofton drove in the runs to give the Dawgs the lead in the eighth, and Holder pitched in with valuable insurance runs with a bases clearing triple.
One of the strengths of the offense on Friday was the ability to take advantage of free baserunners. SIU was gifted 13 free passes via walks and hit by pitches. Of those, nine came around to score.
Over the course of the night, SIU used six pitchers. Jordan Husky was on the mound to begin the game, going five innings while surrendering 4 runs. Dylan Petrey earned the win off of his two innings of one-run relief and Sam Frizzi closed out the 16-12 victory, earning a save in the process.
On Saturday, the Dawgs faced BGSU. Unlike the previous night, the bats were held in check in a 4-1 Saluki victory.
Alec Nigut got the ball for game two and twirled a gem, going seven innings while only giving up one run. Gavan Wernsing took the ball for the last two innings and closed the book for the save.
On the offensive side of the ball, Matt Schark scored twice, being driven in by Kristian Sprawling in the the fourth to tie the game and scoring on a wild pitch in the sixth to take the lead. Gabe Petrucelli and Lemm left the yard on back-to-back at bats in the eighth to give the Dawgs some much-needed insurance.
On Sunday, SIU played two games, facing Southern Indiana and Bowling Green State once each. The Salukis started the day with their second game against the Falcons in what became the third straight come from behind victory on the weekend.
Petrucelli reached base four times and scored thrice, with one coming off of a home run. Lemm and Schark also each left the yard in the game and Holder knocked in 3 runs, including the game winning run in the seventh.
In the seventh, the Dawgs rallied together four 2-out runs to take the lead and the game 8-6.
Meade Johnson was on the hill for the first game of the day, going five and a third and giving up 4 runs. Blaine Harpenau earned the win, picking up two outs and Tanner Gerdes earned a save in one and two thirds innings of relief.
The Dawgs closed out the weekend with their second matchup against the Screaming Eagles.
Tyler Timmerman was on the bump to start the game and shoved six scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Al Holguin took over in the seventh and got the next six outs and Matt Irvine had the job of finishing the game.
As a staff, SIU’s pitchers did a good job of staying out of high pressure situations. The Screaming Eagles only got on base five times and of those five base runners, three didn’t make it past first base en route to a 7-0 win.
At the dish, Sprawling knocked in 3 runs and scored twice, while Lemm reached base in all four of his plate appearances and scored three times. Petrucelli also scored twice.
With the four wins, the Dawgs improve to 8-3 on the season. The Salukis will be back in action hosting SIUE on Tuesday before hosting Bellarmine next weekend, March 7-9.
Sports Reporter Nick Pfannkuche can be reached at npfankuche@dailyegyptian.com. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook and X @dailyegyptian.
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