Early run support helped the SIU baseball team defeat Murray State 7-4 at Abe Martin Field Wednesday.

Saluki sophomore catcher Mark Kelly drove in a team-high two runs and his second inning single knocked in sophomore third baseman Scott Elmendorf to give SIU, (16-6), a critical 5-0 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Kelly’s RBI single finished off the Thoroughbreds (3-15).

Advertisement

Kelly said he has the same approach as last season but the results of hard work are paying dividends.

“I spent a lot of time working with coach Henderson to make little adjustments with my swing during the offseason,” He said. “Now, my hard work is starting to pay off for me.”

Kelly leads the Missouri Valley Conference with a .462 batting average. He also leads the Salukis with 28 RBI.

His battery mate, freshman pitcher Tyler Choate, tossed six scoreless innings while striking out six en route to his second win of the season.

Choate said his confidence has been growing since throwing three scoreless innings against Western Michigan Saturday.

“My slider worked really well for me today but it was my two-seam fastball that was getting me ground ball outs,” Choate said.

With the shutout, Choate lowered his earned run average to 1.76 this season.

Advertisement*

When Choate left the game in the seventh inning the Saluki bullpen had a rough outing.

Senior pitcher Shane Garner gave up two hits in the top of the seventh inning before sophomore Danny Wells bailed him out with the bases loaded.

Wells didn’t pitch as well in the eighth as he loaded the bases and give up two runs before he was lifted for junior Ian Reinhart. Reinhart let two of his inherited runners score thanks in part to errors from the left side of the infield.

Saluki coach Dan Callahan said he was happy with the job Reinhart did.

“He came in and did what he was supposed to do but Scott made an error,” Callahan said. “Ian was coming into a tough situation but he picked up Danny Wells.”

The Salukis begin their MVC season Friday against Illinois State at Abe Martin Field at 2 p.m.