Two more knocks for SIU's Peters
Former Pembina Valley juniors, Tristan Peters, left, and Kyle Dyck show off their silver medals from the 2017 Summer Games. Manitoba lost 3-1 to Saskatchewan in the gold medal game. The silver, was the best finish by any ball team from Manitoba at the Summer Games.
May 1, 2021
By John T. Lock
Southern Illinois
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Salukis won both games of a doubleheader in dramatic fashion and clinched the series against Missouri State on Saturday at Itchy Jones Stadium. In the first game, SIU overcame a four-run late-inning deficit to win 6-5. In the second game, Brad Harrison pitched a complete-game six-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over the Bears. SIU leads the series, three games to none.
Harrison improved to 7-0 with his second career complete-game shutout in the second game. He struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter, and he made SIU (30-12, 9-10 MVC) the 13th team in the nation to reach 30 wins this season.
“I haven’t seen a complete game shutout in college ball in a long time. The first inning was a little shaky, but once he got out of the first, it didn’t feel like there was ever trouble,” SIU head coach Lance Rhodes said. “He was rock solid. I was never even nervous. That’s as well pitched game as you can possibly have in Division I baseball.”
In that second game of the doubleheader, Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) and Cody Cleveland hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the first inning to give SIU a 1-0 lead that Harrison would never relinquish. The Salukis added a run in the sixth on a balk and took that 2-0 lead into the eighth. Philip Archer doubled SIU’s lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. When Harrison gave up a two-out single in the ninth, Rhodes made a mound visit to make sure Harrison still felt good. Harrison assured Rhodes that he wanted to finish the game and got the game’s final out on a popout.
The magic of the shutout was matched by an incredible rally by the Salukis in their final at-bat of the first game of the doubleheader. In the first game, a seven inning game, Missouri State (15-14, 5-6 MVC) led it 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but Kyle Back got SIU out of a jam in the top of the sixth to keep the deficit at only four runs, which proved to be huge. Facing MSU closer Hayden Juenger, J.T. Weber started the rally with a double. Peters (Winkler, Man.) drew a walk, and Cleveland drove home Weber with an RBI single to get SIU within 5-2. Philip Archer hit a line drive ground rule double that one-hopped over the right field wall to get SIU within 5-3. Then, the the biggest swing of the game: Evan Martin hit an opposite field three-run homer to cap the five-run sixth that gave SIU a 6-5 lead.
SIU’s vaunted offense remained steady after showing a disciplined approach in Friday night’s opener. SIU got only 15 hits, which has been below average for an SIU team that has a team batting average over .300, but it had hard-hit contact all day and struck out just eight times in the doubleheader, only once in the first game.
Making SIU’s win even more impressive, preseason All-MVC shortstop Nick Neville missed both games after fouling a ball off his foot in yesterday’s win. Ian Walters moved to shortstop, and Cody Cleveland played Walters’ usual position of third base. And the Salukis committed just one error in the doubleheader.
Peters, who added a single in the second game, is leading the team with a .358 average to go with 15 doubles, two triples, two homers and 37 RBIs. He has a .988 OPS in 42 games, stealing 13 bases in 14 tries.
NOTES: SIU became the 13th team in Division I baseball, and first in the MVC, to reach 30 wins this season ... SIU has won eight-straight home games, tied for the 10th-longest active home field winning streak in the nation ... SIU is 57-19 in its last 76 home games ... The Salukis won a series vs. Missouri State in Carbondale for the first time since 2007.