May 21, 2008

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

WICHITA, Kan. - Junior righthander Cody Adams struck out seven in 8.2 innings of a dominant pitching performance to give fifth-seeded Southern Illinois University (33-21) a 5-3 win over fourth-seeded Northern Iowa (29-23) earlier today in the first round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

A native of Viola, Ill., Adams tossed eight innings of three-hit, shutout baseball. He sat down UNI in order five times and recorded 17 groundball outs.

Adams, who won for the third-straight time, said he had several pitches working for him today.

"My slider was probably the best it's been all season," said Adams. "My fastball had really good life and was down in the zone. I knew how to pitch some of these guys after facing them earlier in the year."

Adams allowed five runs and struck out seven in his first career win against the Panthers in Waterloo on Apr. 26. Today, he earned his first career win all-time in two starts at the MVC Tournament.

"Cody was very good against UNI on the road," said Saluki head coach Dan Callahan. "What he did in the first eight innings today was dominating."

Adams and UNI lefhander Nick Kirk were locked in a good pitcher's duel early on, but the Panther defense broke down behind Kirk in the fourth.

Two errors led to a pair of unearned runs, as SIU took a 2-0 lead.

The Salukis scored twice more when Tyler Lairson hit a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the sixth. The homer marked only Lairson's second hit in 23 career at-bats at the MVC Tournament.

"I was looking for a fastball and got a fastball up and in," said Lairson. "I just got enough of it."

Owen Mackedon's two-out, RBI-single then plated Dean Cademartori to give SIU what appeared to be a comfortable 5-0 advantage.

The Panthers roared to four-straight hits against Adams in their final at-bat. Dane Embury led off with an infield single and went to second on a base hit by Travis Hendrix. The 2008 MVC Player of the Year, Brandon Douglas, followed with a double and Embury scored. Douglas set a new UNI single-season record in doubles.

Chris Lopez stepped in next and roped a single to right field to score Hendrix, before Douglas scored on a groundball out to quickly dice the lead to 5-3.

Adams got Brett Douglas to fly out to center and walked Eddie Almonte before giving way to Tyler Choate. Choate forced Cory Ege to ground out to second for the final out en route to his first save of the season.

Adams, who improved to 6-4 on the year, allowed seven hits and walked two on the day.

Kirk (4-7) suffered the tough-luck loss after giving up six hits and three runs in five innings.

Offensively, SIU registered 12 hits, with five coming from Scott Elmendorf and Adam Hills. Elmendorf went 3-for-5 and Hills went 2-for-4. Cademartori scored three runs for the Dawgs, as well.

Defensively, the Salukis did not commit an error for the 12th time this season.

UNI, which made the MVC Tourney for the first time since 2003, was led by Lopez and Hendrix, who had two hits each.

SIU ended a six-game losing streak in MVC Tournament play.

With this year's new tournament format, two teams will be eliminated before top-seeded Wichita State even plays. Callahan said after the game how big it was for his team to get this win.

"I liked the matchup and we were confident going into today," said Callahan. "This was a huge win for us. I think you have your back against the wall anytime you get into the loser's bracket of this tournament."

SIU advances to the second round of the tournament. If Creighton beats Bradley later today, the Salukis face top-seeded Wichita State at 7 p.m., CST, Thursday. If the Braves beat the Bluejays, SIU squares off against second-seeded Missouri State at 11 a.m., tomorrow.

UNI will play the Creighton-Bradley loser in an elimination game tonight at 7 p.m., CST.