The South rose again, somewhat.

Southern Illinois beat out Northern Illinois in its three game series, winning two games to one. SIU got off the most shots in this civil war of Illinois college baseball, but NIU got in the last shot as they retreated back to Dekalb.

“When you win the first two games of a series that’s always going to be your goal,” said head coach Dan Callahan, softening the blow after Sunday’s game. “I thought Northern did a great job as far as playing with some enthusiasm. If you’re going to win one game in a series you want to win the last, especially on the road, it makes the ride home a heck of a lot easier.”

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By a 9-3 score the previously winless Huskies (1-5) got their first win of the season through timely hitting and intense play which offset their own array of mistakes, namely six errors.

The Salukis (7-5) in response were neither opportunistic, nor able to continue their hot hitting. NIU’s Brian Smith, through exacting placement of his pitches, was able to shut down the Salukis , and didn’t give up a hit until the seventh inning when his team already held a 6-0 lead.

“We were kind of flat,” pitcher Jason Chavez said after being credited with Sunday’s loss. “I speak for myself also, I didn’t come out with quite the intensity I should have.”

The sun, which played peek-a-boo over Abe Martin Field for most of the day, came out for good in the seventh. SIU’s offense came out somewhat at this time too.

Third baseman Ryan Hypke broke up the no-no with an RBI single, bringing in freshman Dean Cademartori, who got into scoring position after a wild pitch. Center fielder Kevin Koski would follow with another RBI single to make the score 6-2.

It would be as close as the Salukis would get.

“[Smith] pitched pretty well,” Koski said. “He had a good breaking ball and he located his fastball pretty well. But on the other hand we weren’t taking the right approach at the plate, it was just one of those days when you couldn’t get anything going.”

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Another run came for NIU in the eighth inning with a double from right fielder Mike Santoro. NIU added two more runs in the ninth. With the score 9-2, SIU teased its faithful fans with hopes of a comeback.

Leadoff hitter Cademartori got on second through an errant throw to first from NIU’s shortstop, Marc Besteman. Cademartori would get home through a double from catcher Brendan Lutz. The NIU contingent groaned as Besteman bobbled a grounder from Hypke with no outs made yet. Husky fears were alleviated when Koski hit to second and set off a 4-6-3 double play that put the Salukis flat on their back.

“I’m disappointed that we came out here and laid an egg today,” said Callahan. “I don’t sense that our guys are the kind of guys that take it for granted that because we won two that we’re going to sweep. This was just a day where we didn’t do any one thing well and we just got outplayed.”

For the Salukis it was indeed just one of those days. They still feel good about winning the series against an NIU team that swept them here last year, even if that wasn’t an overriding motivational factor going into the weekend.

“Last year was a totally different year, this year we’re a brand new team,” Koski said. “We would like to sweep these guys but you got to take a series victory when you can get it.”

The previous two games in the series were marked by come from behind efforts and powered by big hits from outfielders Matt Brewer and Grant Gerrard, who had two homers in the series.

The duo hit back-to-back homers which put NIU away in Friday 6-3 win. Saturday’s big bop came from Gerrard, whose two-run homer gave SIU a 5-4 lead in the eighth. NIU would tie the score and send it to extra innings; the comeback would end there. In the 10th, Lutz drove in infielder Chris McCulloch with a game-winning single and SIU had their series win.

“One of the best things about baseball is it’s brand new every day,” Koski said. “You come out, forget about what happened last game and make a fresh start. This is just a small step back but I think we’ll be ready to play next week.”

Reporter Kyle Means can be reached at [email protected]