After a rough weekend in Terre Haute and dropping the following midweek matchup with Arkansas State in extras, Saluki Baseball was desperate for a bounce back weekend with the Belmont Bruins coming to town.
The Salukis got exactly what they were looking for, taking all three games in the series that wrapped up on Friday evening.
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Game one saw Tyler Timmerman start for the Dawgs. Timmerman went 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs in the process, before the ball was handed to Gavan Wernsing. Wernsing got another 10 outs for SIU, but gave up a solo shot that tied the game at four. Sam Frizzi pitched two perfect innings and got the win with his work.
Offensively, the Salukis were led by Matt Schark, who knocked in three runs with a bases-clearing double in the second. They also got productive nights out of Jordan Bach, who reached base in four of his five plate appearances, notching an RBI with a walk in the second, and Tate Lewis, who went two-for-two, with two singles, a hit-by-pitch and a run scored. But it was Matt Simay, the lone underclassman on the roster, who was the player of the game, driving in Gabe Petrucelli with an infield single in the 10th to walk-off the Bruins by a score of 5-4.
With heacy rain in Saturday’s forecast, Friday was the last day of the series with two games on the docket.
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For game one of the doubleheader, the ace of the pitching staff, Alec Nigut was on the hill for the Dawgs. Nigut was able to work around base runners and got through five innings of work with the only damage he was responsible for being a three-run third. Those proved to be the only blemishes in the run column as Jackson Payne picked up three scoreless innings and Frizzi got his second save of the series with a scoreless ninth.
The only scoring for the Salukis came in the second. With the bases loaded, Jaxon Holder brought in John Lemm with a sacrifice fly. Bach then followed him up with a three-run homer to get the other two runs across, but it was all the Dawgs needed in the 4-3 victory.
With a sweep of the Bruins in their sights, head coach Lance Rhodes gave the ball to Meade Johnson to start the second game on Friday. Johnson delivered a gem of a performance, twirling 8+ shutout innings before he was taken out for Matt Irvine to close the book on Belmont.
SIU got production throughout the lineup in the series finale, with eight different Salukis coming across the plate to score all eight runs. Lemm and Petrucelli each drove in two and left the yard with solo shots, and Mason Schwalbach and Cecil Lofton had the other two RBI, also with solo home runs.
With the sweep of Belmont, SIU improves to 27-12 overall and 10-5 in the Missouri Valley, which is currently good for third place in the conference. The Dawgs will be at SEMO on Tuesday before getting to come back home for Alumni weekend against the second place Redbirds of Illinois State.
Sports Reporter Nick Pfannkuche can be reached at [email protected]. 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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