Tough Saturday for ISU as SIU earns twinbill sweep

Todd Golden, The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
·8 min read

May 16—Bob Warn Field has seen precious few days of baseball in 2021. On the rare days it has hosted games, they've been happy ones for the host Sycamores.

Not on Saturday. In a doubleheader between the MVC's best hitting club — Southern Illinois — and the best pitching team — Indiana State — it was a rough day for the home team.

First, the Salukis demonstrated their hitting prowess in an 11-4 wipeout for the Sycamores in the opening game. Then, after ISU wiped out a five-run deficit to force extra innings, the Sycamores were on the wrong end of controversy in an 8-7 11-inning loss. It was the first two home losses of the season.

The controversy came as a result of a close play at first base. With ISU having runners at the corners and one out, Tyler Nelson hit a double-play ground ball to second. On the throw to first from SIU shortstop Nick Neville, it appeared the toss pulled first baseman Phillip Archer off the bag. That's what was called live as the tying run scored to make it an 8-all deadlock.

However, on replay reversal, Nelson was called out. Game over, but not the question of whether the replay reversal was definitive or not.

The question wasn't in whether Nelson beat the throw — he didn't — but whether Archer's foot remained on the bag. There were two replay angles available to the umpiring crew — neither appeared to be clear enough to show what happened. One replay seemed to show that Archer still had his foot on the bag. The other, which might have demonstrated his foot was off, was so blurry it was hard to know what was what.

It was a bitter end to a bad day at the office for the Sycamores. And though ISU coach Mitch Hannahs was not at all thrilled with the final play of the day, he also knows that SIU out-played ISU through the course of the day and that ISU was somewhat fortunate to be in extra innings at all.

"We were fortunate even to have a chance. If they don't make a mistake [in the 9th], we're going home at 7-5 with two L's anyway. They gave us life, but we couldn't quite take advantage," ISU coach Mitch Hannahs said.

The second game was far more compelling than the opener. After SIU (35-16, 12-11) banged out 15 hits in the first game, it appeared they would be in the mood for more when the Salukis built a 7-2 lead in the nightcap. SIU leadoff hitter Cody Cleveland tormented the Sycamores all day long. He was a combined 6 of 9 in the contest and he scored one run and knocked in two others in the Salukis' early surge in game two.

SIU's door was shut via a virtuoso performance from ISU middle reliever Jake Ridgway. He pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball to give the Sycamores a chance. This came after Matt Jachec threw six innings of relief in game one and held the Salukis to three runs.

"Both of those guys did a great job stemming their tide," Hannahs said.

ISU (25-14, 12-7) nibbled away. A RBI double by Miguel Rivera in the seventh and a solo home run down the left field line by Jordan Schaffer made it 7-4.

The ninth inning comeback was equal parts outrageous fortune and ISU patience at the plate. Max Wright doubled and then Seth Gergely hit a slow grounder down the first base line. Archer, playing the line to avoid a double, was behind the bag to field it for an easy out, but the ball struck the bag and bounded into right field for a single. ISU would subsequently load the bases.

Ellison Hanna II drew a bases-loaded walk, but it appeared ISU's race was run when Mike Sears hit a dribbler back to SIU pitcher Trey McDaniel. However, McDaniel air-mailed the game-clinching throw to first and it sailed down the right field line. Two Sycamores scored on a dramatic game-tying E1.

College baseball has adopted the rule of putting a runner on second in extra innings. Neither team broke through in the 10th, despite getting their runner to third, but SIU was able to do so in the 11th without benefit of a hit. Evan Martin, the runner on second, advanced to third on a groundout. With two outs, ISU's Connor Cline threw a wild pitch.

The errant throw bounced hard off the backstop and Wright seemingly could have thrown to Cline, but he elected to try an apply the tag himself. Martin slid underneath the swoop by Wright to make it 8-7 and set up the controversial bottom of the 11th.

There was no disputing anything in the outcome of the opener — the Salukis mauled ISU pitching in the first two innings.

Cleveland led off the game with a home run as SIU touched up ISU starter Tyler Grauer for three runs. The Salukis added five more in the second, chasing both Grauer and reliever Max Kramer. SIU hit three home runs in the game and the top five batters in the Salukis' order were a combined 11 of 21 at the plate with nine RBI between them.

ISU will try to salvage a series split at 1 p.m. on Sunday — weather permitting. Hannahs thinks maybe ISU needed a bit of a jolt.

"The bottom line is they hit better and pitched a little bit better than us. When you get into days like and they out-play you in more than one phase, it's difficult to get a W. Give them credit," Hannahs said. "Sometimes this is good for you. Sometimes you need a little awakening and understand you grind all the way to the end."

Game 1

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (AB-R-H-RBI) — Cleveland 2b 5-3-3-3, Weber lf 4-2-2-1, Peters cf 4-1-1-1, Neville ss 4-3-3-2, Archer 1b 4-0-2-2, Martin dh 4-0-0-1, Walters 3b 2-0-0-0, Hudson rf 4-0-2-1, Rask c 4-2-2-0. TOTALS 35-11-15-11.

INDIANA STATE (AB-R-H-RBI) — Schaffer ss 4-1-1-0, Beck lf-rf 4-0-2-2, Wright c-lf 4-1-1-1, Rivera 1b 2-0-0-0, Magill ph-c 2-0-1-0, Fuentes 3b-1b 3-1-1-1, Urdaneta 2b 4-0-1-0, Gines rf-3b 3-0-1-0, Barrow dh 2-0-0-0, Harbison ph 1-0-1-0, Ross cf 1-0-0-0, Nelson ph-cf 1-1-0-0. TOTALS 31-4-9-4.

Southern Illinois=350=021=0=-=11

Indiana State=110=020=0=-=4

E — Neville (10). DP — ISU 1. LOB — SIU 5, ISU 8. 2B — Archer (18), Rask (3); Beck (8), Harbison (1). HR — Cleveland 2 (5), Neville (13); Wright (11), Fuentes (4). SB — Hudson (9).

Southern Illinois=IP=H=R=ER=BB=SO

Chapman (W, 7-4)=4 1/3=7=4=4=1=6

Lewis=2 2/3=2=0=0=1=4

Indiana State=IP=H=R=ER=BB=SO

Grauer (L, 2-2)=1=6=5=5=1=1

Kramer=0=3=3=3=0=0

Jachec=6=6=3=3=0=4

HBP — by Jachec (Walters). WP — Lewis (4), Jachec (3). T — 2:15.

Game 2

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (AB-R-H-RBI) — Cleveland 2b 4-1-3-2, Weber lf 5-1-1-2, Peters cf 5-0-0-0, Neville ss 4-1-0-0, Archer 1b 4-1-2-0, Hudson rf 3-1-1-0, Martin ph 1-1-0-0, Walters 3b 5-2-3-3, Epps dh 4-0-0-0, Ulick c 4-0-0-0, Rask c 1-0-0-0. TOTALS 40-8-10-7.

INDIANA STATE (AB-R-H-RBI) — Schaffer ss 6-1-3-1, Beck lf 6-1-1-0, Fuentes 3b 2-0-0-0, Barrow ph 1-0-0-0, Cline p 0-0-0-0, Harbison ph 1-0-0-0, Wright dh-c 3-2-2-2, Gines rf 3-0-1-0, Cusamano ph 1-0-0-0, Gergely rf-cf 2-1-1-0, Rivera 1b 5-0-1-1, Urdaneta 2b 4-1-1-0, Magill c 4-0-1-0, Hanna ph 0-0-0-1, Nelson pr-rf 1-0-0-0, Ross cf 3-1-0-0, Sears ph-3b 1-0-0-0. TOTALS 43-7-11-5.

Southern Illinois=022=003=000=01=-=8

Indiana State=100=010=113=00=-=7

E — McDaniel (3). DP — SIU 1, ISU 2. LOB — SIU 6, ISU 15. 2B — Cleveland (7); Wright (8), Rivera (7). 3B — Wright (1). HR — Weber (13), Walters (7); Schaffer (3). S — Rivera (1). SB — Hudson (9), Walters (10).

Southern Illinois=IP=H=R=ER=BB=SO

Harrison=4 2/3=4=2=2=4=2

Hall=3 2/3=7=4=3=1=6

McDaniel (W, 5-4)=2 2/3=0=1=0=3=4

Indiana State=IP=H=R=ER=BB=SO

Weaver=5 1/3=6=7=7=4=5

Ridgway=4 2/3=4=0=0=1=3

Cline (L, 4-2)=1=0=1=0=0=0

HBP — by McDaniel (Urdaneta). WP — Harrison (7), Cline (4), Weaver (5), Ridgway (1). T — 3:33. A — 763.

Next — ISU (25-14, 12-7) and SIU (35-16, 12-11) will play at 1 p.m. on Sunday.