March 6, 2016
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By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois claimed a series win with a 6-1 victory over the University of Iowa baseball team Sunday afternoon at Richard “Itchy” Jones Stadium. The Hawkeyes were limited to one run on eight hits in the contest.
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“It was a frustrating day, but it was one of those days where baseball isn’t fair,” said UI head coach Rick Heller. “I don’t think we pitched that poorly, but they had a day where everything found a hole. They hit ground balls that got through, jam shots that fell in, and balls that weren’t square up that fell in.
“We seemed to hit the ball right at them all day, but they played flawless defense today and all weekend.”
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Saluki starting pitcher Michael Baird shut down the Hawkeye offense with seven shutout innings to start the game before allowing one run in the eighth. He gave up one run on six hits over 7 2/3 innings to pick up his second victory of the season.
Southern Illinois pushed single runs across the plate in the third and fourth innings against Iowa starter Calvin Mathews before extending the lead against Hawkeye bullpen. The Salukis finished pushed their lead to 3-0 with one run in the sixth before taking control with three in the seventh.
Iowa avoided the shutout in the eighth with a two-out rally. Senior Nick Roscetti reached on a hit by pitch, moved to third on a Tyler Peyton single and Austin Guzzo walked to load the bases.
Pinch hitter Grant Klenovich came through with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 6-1, but Iowa couldn’t do any more damage, leaving the bases loaded following a groundout by senior Eric Schenck-Joblinske.
The Hawkeyes finished with eight hits in the game with Roscetti and Guzzo tallying multi-hit contests. Roscetti was 2-for-3 with a run, while Guzzo was 2-for-2 with two walks.
“We didn’t punch out a lot; we put the ball in play, but we couldn’t find a hole,” said Heller. “Unfortunately the few opportunities we had with runners in scoring position, we had our worst at-bats of the game.”
Mathews (0-1) was tagged with the loss, allowing two runs on seven hits over four innings. Sophomore Nick Allgeyer gave up three runs on four hits over two innings, and redshirt junior Josh Martsching allowed one run on four hits in his first appearance of the season.
Iowa (3-6) opens its home season Tuesday, hosting Northwestern (Iowa) College at 3 p.m. (CT) at Banks Field.
“We want to go home, get the bats rolling and see a lot of the freshmen pitchers and pitchers that haven’t thrown a lot,” said Heller. “We have to get better and improve and hopefully we can start that Tuesday.”
