Illinois State saw its postseason hopes come to an end in Carbondale, Ill., on Saturday afternoon as the Redbirds lost 5-4 to Southern Illinois at Abe Martin Field. The loss ends the season for the Redbirds as they will not qualify for next weeks 2005 ConAgra Foods Missouri Valley Conference tournament in Wichita, Kan.
Taking the loss for Illinois State (26-27, 9-15) was senior Matt Fowles (4-6). Fowles went 1.2 innings in the game and gave up three earned runs. Senior Ned Schauff came on in relief and pitched well in 5.1 innings of work, allowing only four hits and no earned runs.
Picking up the win for Southern Illinois (37-19, 15-9) was senior P.J. Finigan (9-2). Finigan pitched 7.2 innings and gave up eight hits and four earned runs.
Southern Illinois got on the board first in the ballgame as they plated three runs in the first inning off of Fowles. Matt Brewer brought in two runs with a double down the rightfield line to give SIU a 2-0 lead. With two outs in the inning, Erik Alvarez hit a ground ball to second baseman Mike Kelley, however the ball went through Kelleys legs allowing the Salukis to take a 3-0 lead after one.
Finigan would help his own cause in the third with an RBI single to give Southern Illinois a 4-0 lead after two innings of play.
The Salukis would add another tally in the sixth and they would do so without a hit as a Finigan would score from third on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.
The Redbirds would get on the board in the of the eighth as Kyle O'Brien hit a grand slam to leftfield to cut the SIU lead to 5-4.
ISU would get the tying run to third in the top of the ninth but would fail to score with the game ending at 5-4.
Illinois State concludes its 2005 season with the loss in Carbondale. Illinois State will vote on team awards later this week for the 2005 season.
