For the third-straight game SIU baseball went into extra innings and didn’t come away with the win, falling to Northern Illinois 1-0 in 11 innings on Friday.

The Salukis stranded seven runners and were 1-14 with runners in scoring position.

SIU (9-7-1) pushed its scoreless innings streak to 31, last scoring in the second inning of a 2-2 tie against St. John’s on March 13. The Dawgs were also held scoreless in the 1-0 loss to Arkansas State on Tuesday.

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“Our pitch selection wasn’t very good and we’re just struggling to score runs right now,” coach Ken Henderson said. “We want to continue to be aggressive at the plate but also swing at better pitches than we have lately.”

The Salukis had a chance to score in the bottom of the seventh when junior designated hitter Hunter Anderson tried to score on a passed ball, but was tagged out at the plate.

“We had a lot of hard hit balls that just didn’t drop for us,” Anderson said. “Coach Strain preaches to us to be aggressive hitters and we’re not going to change as balls will drop we can’t get down on ourselves because of that and panic because that’s baseball.”

Sophomore closer Ryan Netemeyer (0-1, 0.73 ERA) took the loss after allowing the only run of the game in the 11th on a bases loaded sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore outfielder Joe Jumonville. The bases were loaded after Netemeyer hit a batter and he advanced to third on the error.

NIU junior pitcher Ryne Blanton (1-0, 7.71 ERA) got the win.

“He threw me a fastball on the outer half of the plate and I was just trying to elevate the ball into the outfield to score a run and I was able to do that,” Jumonville said.

Starting pitching once again was the Salukis’ strength as junior pitcher Joey Marciano (2-1, 1.76 ERA) left the game with a no decision after eight innings of work and giving up no runs on four hits while striking out four.

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His counterpart, freshman pitcher William Anderson (1-1 6.10 ERA), shut the Salukis down allowing no runs on nine hits and striking out four in nine innings.

SIU plays Illinois at 4 p.m. Saturday at Itchy Jones Stadium.

Ted Ward can be reached at [email protected] or 618-534-3303