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Leathernecks sweep Chicago State in doubleheader 8-2, 6-0

June 24, 2008 on 9:05 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois baseball team picked up a pair of wins in their home opener against Chicago State, Saturday afternoon.

Game 1

A 2-2 ball game was broken open in the bottom of the fifth for the Leathernecks (2-14). The inning started with Kyle Surprenant reaching on a walk. A Jared Wolf single put runners on second and third with one out. The bases were loaded up on a Brett Pendell walk and Kenny Price delivered a two-RBI single to give Western its first and final lead of the opener. After Drew Laidig was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, Cooper Stewart singled to bring in another pair of runs. T.J. Kistner concluded the rally with a double, which plated two more runs and gave the Leathernecks a 8-2 lead.

Western starter Eric Eden delivered a solid outing for his second win of the season. He threw eight innings, striking out nine batters and allowing two runs on eight hits.

The Cougars (3-18) got the scoring going in the top of the third with a Chris Goya two-run homer.

After collecting just one hit over the first three innings, Price got a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth for the Leathernecks. Laidig followed by belting his first home run of the season to left field, tying the game at 2-2, before the fifth inning rally for Western.

Game 2

The bats came alive early in game two as the Leathernecks (3-14) plated five runs in the first two innings. Jared Wolf led the game off with a single and scored on a Pendell double. Laidig picked up a RBI with a one-out double himself. Stewart was able to reach on an error, allowing Laidig to come home. A James Bina ground out plated Stewart with the fourth run of the first inning.

Western stayed hungry in the second inning Cole Waddell started the inning with a single into center field. After Wolf moved him up 90-feet with a sac bunt, Pendell attempted to bunt for a base hit. A misplay on the ball at first by the Cougars (3-19) allowed Waddell to score.

That would be more than enough support for starter Travis Tolsma who was lights out for the Leathernecks. The senior righty tossed a complete game shut-out to pick up the win for Western. He scattered five hits throughout the game while striking out seven and walking just one.

“It’s nice to get home and finally pitch in front of our fans,” said Tolsma. “When you’re pitching with a five-run lead you just have to go out and throw strikes. There’s nothing better than throwing with the lead. Coach stressed to us last week that getting back home and playing in front of the fans could be the turning point in the season. The question now is just can we keep it going.”

Kyle Surprenant added an insurance run for Western in the bottom of the eighth by leading off with a walk and scoring on a Pendell sac fly, making the final score 6-0.

“It was good to come home,” said Western Illinois head coach Stan Hyman. “We got a terrific outing from Tolsma today. Him and Eden did a great job of working ahead in the counts all day.”

Helping out the strong pitching today for the Leathernecks was 19 hits from the offense. Wolf and Pendell led the way with four total hits each in the double header.

Offensively we did enough today,” Hyman said of the offense. “We did a nice job of jumping on Vargas, who is their best pitcher, in the second game. We took advantage of mistakes they made early. There were some good at bats today and a few balls that were hit right at them. We ran the bases really well today and picking up an extra base here and there helped out a lot.”

After committing 12 errors in the previous four games, Western turned things around on defense by not having a single error in both games.

“The biggest thing for me was that we played errorless baseball for 18 innings,” said Hyman. “It doesn’t matter who your opponent is, if you’re going to play error-free ball, you’re probably going to win a baseball game.

“We have to keep it on a even keel,” Hyman added. “I didn’t get too low on the loses and I’m not going to be too high on the wins. When you do something once it’s a fluke, you do it twice it’s a coincidence, but if you do something three times it’s a pattern. We need to come out and establish a pattern tomorrow. I feel totally confident that this team will go on quite a roll in the next few weeks and the record will indicate that.”

The Leathernecks go for the three game sweep of Chicago State, Sunday, with an 11 a.m. start time.
Originaly from Source