May 18, 2006
Box Score
NORMAL, Ill. -
All three games of the final Missouri Valley Conference series for the Illinois State baseball team are must-win games for the team, as it must sweep the visiting Southern Illinois Salukis in the three-game set to advance to the ConAgra Foods MVC Tournament. Freshman starter Ian Berger was not about to let his team down in the opener on Thursday, as he recorded a in 7-1 complete game victory for ISU (19-32, 9-13 MVC) over SIU (32-22, 11-11 MVC) at Redbird Field.
Berger (6-5) gave up just one earned run on three hits while striking out eight Southern Illinois hitter in his nine innings of work on the mound for the Redbirds. Jordan Powell (6-5) suffered the loss for the Salukis in seven innings of work, allowing four runs, two of which were earned, on five hits while striking out four batters.
Jesse Griswold's two-out RBI double in the bottom of the first inning gave the Redbirds an early 1-0 advantage over the Salukis. ISU would add another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, thanks to another two-out RBI, this time by Kevin Dubler as Griswold scored on the hit-and-run to make the score 2-0.
SIU would answer back in the top of the fifth inning with its lone run of the game. With runners on second and third base with just one out, Dean Cademartori scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Harrigan to cut the ISU lead to 2-1.
The Redbirds tacked on their third run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-out double by Dubler, which scored Ryan Anetsberger from second base and extended the lead to 3-1. A Matt Bolt solo home run in the bottom of the sixth seventh inning, his second home run of the season, would then widen the ISU lead to 4-1.
A three-run eighth inning by the Redbirds would then put the game out of reach. Kris Jenkins' RBI triple scored Griswold for the first run of the inning and Jenkins would later score on a single by Dubler to bring the score to 6-1. Gabe DeMarco's RBI double later in the inning scored Dubler to score the final run of the inning and bring the score to its final at 7-1.
Dubler led the way for ISU, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI in the win. Scott Elmendorf, Bret Maugeri and Cademartori had the only three hits for the Salukis in the defeat, who have now lost four games in a row.
Junior Kitt Kopach (3-8) will look to keep the Redbirds' tournament hopes alive, as he takes the mound in the second game of the three-game weekend series with SIU at 6 p.m. on Friday.
