Peters doubles, knocks in two in Salukis' rout of Southeast Missouri
Okotoks Dawgs Academy alum Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) had a double, a run, two RBIs and a clutch catch in centre field to help the Southern Illinois Salukis to a 21-4 rout of Southeast Missouri on Wednesday. Photo: SIU Athletics
March 24, 2021
By John T. Locke
SIU Athletics
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The No. 22 ranked SIU baseball team crushed Southeast Missouri 21-4 on Wednesday at Capaha Field. SIU scored six runs in the second inning, four in the fourth, and seven in the ninth in the blowout.
SIU improved to 18-1 on the season. SIU's 18 wins are the most in the nation (tied with 18-4 Tennessee). Eleven Salukis scored a run in the game and nine had a hit. Four had multi-hit games, and the Salukis pounded out 17 hits and 21 runs, both Rhodes-era highs.
"The one word we use a lot about our offence is relentless," SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. "We want to be relentless from pitch to pitch, from at-bat to at-bat. We have guys that lock in. They don't give at-bats away. When they do that, you can usually have a pitcher cave before the lineup does. Don't give anything away, and try to pass it to the next guy."
SIU's offence got to work immediately, drawing two walks and a hit-by-pitch in the first inning to score two runs on just one hit. SEMO (10-9) got a run back in the bottom half of the first but struggled throwing strikes all game. The Salukis drew 13 walks and two HBP, which, combined with SIU's 17 hits, gave the Salukis a .542 on-base percentage for the game.
The Salukis, who sport one of the nation's best offences, put up a six-run second inning to take an 8-1 lead. Nick Neville hit a three-run homer, and Vinni Massaglia hit a two-run homer in the inning.
The Redhawks nearly got back into the game in the second and third innings. In the second. SEMO had the bases loaded with two outs, and Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) caught a deep fly ball with his back against the 400-foot marker in dead centre field. In the third, SEMO got two runs in to get within 8-3, and again had the bases loaded with two outs. Neville made a great play in the 5-6 hole to take a hit away and threw to third for the force out to end the inning.
"Early, I thought it was going to be a higher scoring game on both sides with the way the wind was playing. The strike zone was a little tighter at the beginning," Rhodes said. "It looked like it would turn into one of those midweeks that's a higher scoring affair on both sides. We got lucky there where we broke it open in the early middle part of the innings. Again, it's never over and it's never easy."
From there, SIU's offence left no doubt against a good SEMO team that had won eight of its last 11 games coming into the weekend. The Salukis put up a four-run fourth to take a 12-3 lead, highlighted by a two-out, two-run single by Austin Ulick. The Salukis scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings before another huge inning, this one a seven-run ninth, to take a 21-3 lead. The Redhawks got a run in the bottom of the ninth to set the final score at 21-4.
The Salukis had a staff day on the mound, and 10 different SIU pitchers combined to allow just three earned runs. Gage O'Brien got the win, allowing just one unearned run in two innings of work. After SEMO scored its two runs in the third inning, Matthew Steidl, Noah Farmer, Dylan Givens, Kyle Back, Mitchell Jackson and Adam Bunnell combined to pitch five-straight scoreless innings. The Salukis pitched around trouble at times, issuing 10 walks in the game, but allowed just eight hits, Farmer, Givens, Back and Jackson combined for 3 2/3 innings without allowing a hit.
"It always seems like a staff game is a good idea because you can roll guys out there who can lock in for one inning," Rhodes said. "When you think about it, we were asking 10 guys to be on today. Typically, you're asking two, three, or four pitchers max to be on for that given day. Staff days are a little more difficult than people think they are. We had a lot of people that needed game work. That was our goal today. We were going to get them game work whether it was 15-14 or if it was 21-4. We need to continue to build depth because of the four-game weekends. We need guys who are able to be reliable arms out of the bullpen, whether it's on a doubleheader Saturday or late on a Sunday. We're still trying to build that depth to be able to compete for a championship on a conference weekend."
With the win, SIU improved to 5-0 in true road games this season and 7-0 away from Carbondale, which includes two neutral-site games. SIU's early-season RPI jumped to No. 6 in the nation after the win, according to WarrenNolan. After the game, Rhodes was asked about whether this 18-1 club could compete for an MVC title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
"That's our goal. That's what we've been shooting for since the fall, to be a playoff contender," Rhodes said. "There's still a long way to go. There's a lot of season left. By no means do we feel like we've arrived. We have to continue every single day to improve. We have four-game conference weekends, so we have long weekends ahead of us. We need to take it one game at a time."
UP NEXT: SIU hosts Little Rock for a three-game series this weekend at Itchy Jones Stadium. Game times are 6 p.m., 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively.
NOTES: SIU is 23-1 in its last 24 games, dating back to last season ... SIU has won six-straight true road games and eight-straight road/neutral-site games, dating back to last season ... SIU is 9-1 in its last 10 games against SEMO ... SIU Athletics is undefeated against SEMO in all sporting events this season (Football, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Softball, and Baseball have combined to go 5-0 against SEMO.) ... Dylan Givens has pitched 16 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, dating back to last season (5 1/3 at the end of last year, 11 1/3 innings this year).