Southern Illinois University
29-18, 11-8
Wichita St.
39-16, 12-4
Baseball Falls to Wichita State, 4-0
05/06/2005 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
May 6, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Mike Pelfrey struck out eight in a six-hit complete game shutout to lead Wichita State (39-16, 12-4) to a 4-0 win over Southern Illinois (29-18, 11-8) earlier today in front of approximately 40 professional scouts at Abe Martin Field.
Pelfrey and Saluki left-hander Tyler Norrick took center stage for what turned out to be an exciting pitching matchup between two of the league's pro prospects.
A native of Wichita, Kan., Pelfrey once again carved up the Salukis. He opened his 15th start of the season by retiring nine straight and striking out five of the first seven SIU hitters he faced.
There were only two times, where SIU threatened against Pelfrey, and that was in the fourth and eighth innings. SIU had runners on second and third with one out in each of those frames.
Pelfrey, however, recorded two consecutive groundball outs to get out of the fourth. He then escape the eighth, when he took care of SIU's hottest hitters, Kevin Koski (flied out in foul territory) and P.J. Finigan (grounded out 1-3).
In addition to those four baserunners, only two other Salukis reached against Pelfrey.
Norrick, who made just his second career start against WSU, gave up hits to five of the first seven Shockers who came to the plate.
After allowing a one-out single to Nick McCoola in the first, Norrick gave up his first home run of the season to Danny Jackson, who was ahead 1-0 in the count, before sending Norrick's second offering over the left field wall.
Jackson's homer was followed by three more hits, as the Shockers took a 3-0 lead.
As it turned out, that was the difference in Norrick's loss, as the native of Festus, Mo., scattered only four hits and struck out four in his last 5.2 innings of work. Norrick was also charged with an unearned run in the eighth, which capped the 4-0 shutout for Pelfrey.
Pelfrey (10-2), who remained perfect in league play at 5-0, moved to 3-0 with 27 strikeouts in 25 innings lifetime against SIU. He also improved to 7-1 with a 1.29 ERA and four complete games in his last nine starts.
Norrick (4-2) suffered his first league loss since dropping a 5-3 decision at Creighton on Apr. 1.
Offensively, the Shockers outhit the Dawgs, 10-6, with McCoola and Brandon Hall each going 3-for-4 with a run scored.
Six different Salukis collected one hit for SIU. Two of those were Koski and Finigan, who extended their hitting streaks again. Koski's is at 23 games, while Finigan's is at 15.
SIU and WSU resume their series tomorrow at 2 p.m. Finigan (6-2) and Shocker right-hander Jereme Foster (5-3) will take the mound.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Pelfrey (10-2)
L: Norrick, Tyler (4-2)
Batting:
2B: McCoola 2
HR: Jackson, D. 1
RBI: Jackson, D. 1 ; Vinze 1 ; Hurlbutt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McCoola 1 ; Jackson, D. 1 ; Hall 1 ; Muich 1
CS: Muich 1
Batting:
SH: Emrick, Nathan 1 ; Lairson, Tyler 1
