Peters doubles in SIU's 2-0 win
Former Pembina Valley Orioles, Okotoks Dawgs and Chandler Gilbert Community College Coyote Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) doubled in a run for the SIU Salukis.
Salukis shut out Marshall, sweep series
By John T. Lock
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Brad Harrison and Trey McDaniel combined for a four-hit shutout to lead the No. 27 ranked Southern Illinois Salukis to a 2-0 win over the Marshall Thundering Herd on Sunday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. SIU swept the three-game series and improved to 17-1 on the season.
“Today’s game was similar to all weekend, where it was led by the pitching side,” SIU coach Lance Rhodes said. “Brad built off last weekend’s start, which was his best of the season. He basically was identical to last weekend. It was huge to get him off to a good start. It’s nice to be able to win on the pitching and defense side when the bats are still struggling just a little bit.”
Harrison started for SIU and was dominant. Marshall (3-7) got a one-out single in the first inning. After that, Harrison retired 20 of the next 21 hitters he faced, including 14-straight at one point. He struck out nine and walked nobody in seven innings of work, and he only needed 85 pitches in the masterpiece.
Trey McDaniel took the ball from Harrison and pitched two scoreless innings to secure his fifth save of the season in as many chances. In the three-game sweep, SIU pitching struck out 35 Marshall hitters and walked just two.
SIU scratched across a run in the fourth on a J.T. Weber sacrifice fly that scored Vinni Massaglia. In the fifth. Nick Neville and Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) hit back-to-back doubles to score SIU’s second run. The win gave SIU a sweep in the three-game series and redeemed the club’s only loss of the season -- last Sunday against Evansville with a chance to sweep the Aces.
The sweep was a familiar result -- SIU has finished undefeated on four of its five weekends this season -- but an unfamiliar path to get there. The Salukis have been one of the best offensive teams in the nation this year, coming into the Marshall series in the top-10 nationally in batting average, slugging, hits, and scoring. This weekend, SIU still scored -- it averaged 6.3 runs per game in the series -- but not at its previous clip of 10 runs per game. But the Salukis got gems from all three starting pitchers and got outstanding work from the bullpen behind them.
Peters extended his reached base streak to 16-straight games.