Slow start too much for Demons to overcome in opening-night loss to Southern Illinois

NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State baseball team found its offense late Friday night.

However, an early deficit built behind a standout start from Southern Illinois right-hander Aidan Foeller was too much for the Demons to overcome in a 14-7 loss to the visiting Salukis at Brown-Stroud Field.

“We have perspective about it,” first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We give credit where credit is due, and Foeller was really good on the mound. Their offense, especially early on, took some phenomenal swings. On our end of it, proud of the fight and the fact we didn’t quit. We did some good things, and there are some things we can take from it.

“The learning moments are we have to play a better brand of baseball. We walked 12 guys and eight or nine of them scored. We made four errors and two of them scored. There were a lot of self-inflicted wounds.”

Offensively, Northwestern State (0-1) was unable to solve Foeller, the Saluki right-hander who made his first career Division I start. Spotting his fastball, Foeller limited the Demons to one hit in five shutout innings.

While Foeller kept the Demons off balance, the Salukis (1-0) took advantage of the first of four NSU errors to build a six-run second inning against Demon right-hander Chase Prestwich (0-1).

The leadoff error was compounded by Bennett Etloft’s bases-loaded triple that came following the error, two walks and a bunt single that built SIU’s first run of the game.

Southern Illinois posted another multi-run inning – a three-run third – before the Demons collected their first hit against Foeller – Lathen Buzard’s leadoff single in the Demon third.

After the Salukis chased Prestwich in the third, Dawson Flowers settled the game for the Demons before a two-run error in the sixth made it an 11-0 Southern Illinois lead.

Once Foeller exited after five innings of eight-strikeout, one-hit work, the Demons jumped on right-hander Andrew Yusypchuk immediately.

Cole Hill started the Demons’ four-run inning with a leadoff double and scored on a Reese Lipoma RBI single. A batter later, Rocco Gump delivered the first home run of his NSU career – a two-run shot to right center – to highlight the inning.

“Early on, as good as Foeller was, the number of strikeouts have to be cut down so we can continue to try to string together quality at-bats,” Bertrand said. “We did not give up. We fought our tails off, but we have to string together quality at-bats over time because that’s what we did when we had the two crooked numbers – we strung together quality at-bats. Proud of the guys for the fight, but we have to get better.”

After Southern Illinois rebuilt a 10-run advantage, the Demons put together one final rally in the ninth, highlighted by a two-run double from senior catcher Bo Willis, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs.

“We’re going to have to rely on all of those veteran guys who have been in the fire before,” Bertrand said. “There are some good nuggets we can take from our night at the plate. We got almost as many hits as they did. We did some good things, but the difference in the ball game was the self-inflicted wounds on our end.”

The series continues Saturday with a 2 p.m. matchup. Southern Illinois will send left-hander Al Holquin to the mound against Northwestern State right-hander Tyler Nichol.

Southern Illinois 14, Northwestern State 7
SIU 063 002 021 – 14 13 0
NSU 000 004 003 – 7 11 4
W – Aidan Foeller (1-0). L – Chase Prestwich (0-1). 2B – SIU, Trey Cutchen. NSU, Rocco Gump, Bo Willis, Cole Hill. 3B – SIU, Bennett Etloft. HR – SIU, Steven Loden (1). NSU, Rocco Gump (1). Highlights: SIU, Etloft 3-5, 3B, 5 RBIs; Loden 2-6, HR, RBI; Cutchen 2-4, 2B. NSU, Gump 2-5, 2B, HR, RBI; Willis 3-5, 2B, 2 RBIs.
Records: Southern Illinois 1-0; Northwestern State 0-1.