Shockers let one slip away against Salukis

Alec Bohm took the swing, Todd Butler took the blame.

As the potential tying run for Wichita State in the bottom of the ninth, Bohm faced a 3-0 count with runners on second and third and two outs. Southern Illinois reliever Ryan Netemeyer walked the previous batter and threw a run-scoring wild pitch during Bohm’s at-bat.

Butler gave Bohm the green light to swing in a situation that often dictates an automatic take. Bohm fouled out, and SIU escaped with an 11-8 win on Saturday at Eck Stadium.

After the game, Butler told his team, “My fault.” He also apologized to a fan who hung around following the postgame huddle.

“I made the call there,” Butler said. “I made that call to let him swing. It’s 3-0, he’s one of our better hitters. He’s got power, so I made the call to let him go 3-0. I made the call. He got a pitch, just popped it up. I was hoping that he would run into something right there.

“We had Willie (Schwanke) on deck. Kind of a gutsy call.”

The Shockers (15-15, 1-1 Missouri Valley Conference) trailed 11-5 after eight innings but rallied methodically against Netemeyer and Alex Gutermuth, who surrendered two hits and two walks in the inning.

Gutermuth was replaced after walking in a run, a feat matched by Netemeyer to WSU pinch hitter Jacob Katzfey. Netemeyer’s second pitch to Bohm went to the backstop, allowing another run to score.

Bohm is WSU’s best power hitter; he homered in the series opener on Friday and was a swing away from tying Saturday’s game.

“You’ve got to think about it – if he gives Bohm a 3-0 green light and he hits a home run over the fence, everybody’s cheering for him,” WSU outfielder Dayton Dugas said. “It’s just trust in Bohm, and you’ve got to think that on 3-0, they’re going to throw a fastball in there for a strike.

“You hit a home run there, the game is changed. I respect the call. It didn’t work out like it was supposed to, and we’ll bounce back from it tomorrow.”

The bottom of the ninth followed the pattern of the later innings, when walks helped determine the course of the game. WSU relievers issued leadoff walks in the final three innings as SIU scored seven runs.

The most damage was done during the eighth inning, when SIU walked twice and had three hits, including Dyllin Mucha’s RBI double and a two-run triple by Greg Lambert. The Salukis added another run in the ninth to go ahead 11-5.had led 5-1 after four innings.

The Shockers issued eight walks and have walked 20 in the last four games. In the previous 10 games, they walked 21, leading to improved statistics across the board.

“We didn’t pitch (well) in the late innings of that ballgame. They did a good job of putting the bat on the ball,” Butler said. “We haven’t walked as many. The guys have done a good job throwing strikes. Today, we walked the leadoff guys and you can’t do that late in the ballgame.”

The walks offset another strong hitting day for WSU, which had 11 hits. The Shockers have scored 15 runs in the first two games of the series, and had seven two-out RBIs on Saturday.

“A one-run lead with our pitching staff feels safe,” said Dugas, who had three hits and a walk. “So when you get up (four), you feel safe. But that’s the thing in this game, you can’t ever coast. You can’t play the scoreboard, you’ve got to be ready to go in every inning.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Shockers let one slip away against Salukis."