Box Score April 13, 2011
Box Score
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -
Illinois was unable to bunch hits together as Southern Illinois avenged an early season Illini victory in Carbondale with a 3-0 Saluki win at Illinois Field on Wednesday. Third baseman Brandon Hohl doubled and the Illinois bullpen pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings as the Illini fell to 11-17 on the season.
"That's two games in a row that we haven't swung the bats well and we're just not being aggressive enough," Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said. "We're letting too many good pitches go by. We just need to have a different mentality at the plate. If you look at the overall game, we didn't do some little things that allow you to win games."
Illini starter John Anderson cruised through the first three innings, working around a one-out single in the first inning and a two-out base hit in the second to retire the side. He set down the Salukis in order in the third but gave up a leadoff walk in the fourth and the runner moved to third on two wild pitches. One out later, the runner came home on a sacrifice fly to go up 1-0.
Left fielder Casey McMurray reached on an error by the shortstop with one out in the fourth and catcher Adam Davis lifted a fly ball to deep left field that the Saluki defender dropped. But Davis passed McMurray on the base-paths near first base and McMurray was thrown out trying to make it to third, ending the inning.
In the fifth, Anderson struck out the first two hitters before walking shortstop Jake Welch and allowing a double by right fielder Kollin Dowdy to put men on second and third. Center fielder Chris Murphy singled up the middle, driving in two runs, and after first baseman Wes Neece singled, reliever Matt Milroy took over for Anderson. He induced a first-pitch ground ball to Hohl, who fired to second for the final out as SIU took a 3-0 lead.
Hohl poked a one-out double down the right-field line in the bottom of the fifth and second baseman Pete Cappetta singled through the left side, putting men on the corners. But Cappetta was picked off first and Lindauer popped up to second base to end the inning.
Milroy gave up a pair of two-out walks in the sixth before inducing an inning-ending groundout to Lindauer that kept the Salukis off the board. DH Justin Parr singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the sixth but was stranded at first.
Luke Joyce relieved Milroy in the seventh and sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around two base hits that put men on the corners. Will Strack came in for Joyce and catcher Adam Davis caught a runner stealing after Strack's first pitch, getting out of the jam without allowing a run.
Strack worked a clean eighth inning and right fielder Davis Hendrickson singled through the right side with two outs in the bottom half. But center fielder Willie Argo struck out, stranding him.
Wes Braun came on to pitch the ninth and gave up a leadoff base hit before striking out Dowdy. Murphy reached on catcher's interference but Braun induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to get out of the jam and keep the score 3-0. McMurray reached on a one-out walk in the bottom half but Davis flew out and first baseman Matt Dittman grounded out to end the game.
Parr, McMurray, Hohl, Cappetta and Hendrickson each had a hit in the game and the bullpen posted 4 1/3 scoreless innings of work. Milroy gave up only two walks in 1 1/3 scoreless innings, while Joyce gave up two hits and struck out two in his 2/3 of an inning. Strack allowed a hit and struck out a hitter in his 1 1/3 innings of action. Braun allowed a hit and struck out one in his ninth-inning appearance.
The Illini take to the road this weekend as they visit Michigan for a three-game weekend series in Ann Arbor. Friday's game will begin at 5:05 p.m. CT, Saturday's will start at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday's series finale will begin at 12:05 p.m. Both Friday's and Sunday's games will be streamed live at BigTenNetwork.com.
