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Drue Galassi grand slam
WIU Visual Productions Center
Drue Galassi hit the first of his two grand slams in the fourth inning.
4
SIUE SIUE 17-19
21
Winner Western Illinois WIU 12-22
SIUE SIUE
17-19
4
Final
21
Western Illinois WIU
12-22
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
SIUE SIUE 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 4 10 2
Western Illinois WIU 1 6 1 8 0 5 X 21 20 2

W: Minella, Pete (1-0) L: SHEREYK, Michael (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Drue Galassi’s Record Day Helps Western Win 21-4

Galassi hit two grand slams, finished with record 10 RBI


PHOTO GALLERY

MACOMB, Ill. – Drue Galassi said post-game he felt like he was seeing the ball very well. The Western Illinois right fielder demonstrated why as he set a program record with two grand slams and 10 runs batted in leading the Leathernecks to a 21-4 home victory in seven innings over SIU-Edwardsville on Tuesday.
 
Batting second in the lineup, he recorded the first of Western's season-high 20 hits in the game with a one-out single in the first. He eventually scored on a Chris Tschida sacrifice fly.
 
Galassi singled in two runs in the second inning and scored when Adam McGinnis launched a 3-run homer making it 7-1 at the time. Galassi started the fourth inning with a double and scored on McGinnis' RBI single. Tschida brought home a run with a single, Roman Visintine drove in two runs with a double then Galassi got another at-bat later that inning and launched his first-ever grand slam for a 16-3 lead.
 
"I just felt like I was seeing the ball very well. I also felt like my best friend's dad, who had just recently passed away, I felt like he was there helping me throughout this whole game," said Galassi.
 
Western was retired in order in the fifth but the bats exploded again in the sixth. Visintine walked, pinch-hitter Austin Emanuel singled and CJ Schaeffer walked to load the bases. Conner Currier drew a bases loaded walk to bring home a run. Galassi stepped in again and this time took the pitch over the centerfield fence making it 21-3.
 
"The last time I remember (hitting two home runs) was Little League. Hitting two grand slams in unreal, I still can't believe it."
 
Every WIU starter recorded a hit. McGinnis drove in a season-high four runs on his two hits. Visintine matched his career-high of three hits, going 3-for-3 with career-high three runs scored and matching his personal-high of three RBI.
 
Tschida had two hits and two RBI, Deion Thompson had two hits and scored twice. Schaeffer, who had just two hits on the year coming into the game, registered his third career two-hit game.
 
While the offense was exploding, the pitching staff kept SIUE in check, allowing just a single tally in four different innings. Pete Minella (1-0) earned his first career victory, giving up one run on four hits in two innings.
 
J.T. Baksha threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Colan Borchers and Ben Sellers each allowed one earned run in 1.2 innings of work. Matthew Sturchio got the final out of the game.
 
Michael Shereyk (1-1) was charged for seven runs on seven hits in two innings. Brendan Miller gave up seven runs on nine hits in an inning. Those two combined to shutout WIU on just two hits through seven innings of work in the previous meeting two weeks ago.
 
For WIU head coach Ryan Brownlee, it was a chance for his team to bounce back after that disappointing loss at SIUE.
 
"It's fun when the guys start swinging the bats like that. It makes it exciting because you know when it's like this anything can happen. If you would've saw us down in Edwardsville two weeks ago, that was a low point for us offensively because it's the same pitching we saw today as we saw down there, and we only scored three runs (all in the ninth inning). Sometimes it takes games like that to allow you to start making adjustments. It's a little easier as a player when you're not doing well to listen to coaches," said Brownlee. "We are starting to heat up at the right time through the second half of the (Summit) League. The way we've pitched and the way we've played defense, we don't have to score a ton of runs but you still have to score to beat teams… I've been on teams like this that start to get it offensively, it's a lot more fun to come to the ballpark when you expect to score runs."
 
Western returns to Summit League action this Friday, traveling to Fort Wayne for a three-game series beginning on Friday.
 
GAME NOTES:
- The 21 runs scored and 21 RBI are the most since recording 21 in both categories at Fort Wayne in April 2014.
- The 20 hits are the most since 21 at South Dakota State on May 1, 2015.
- The last time a WIU player had five hits in a game was JJ Reimer at SDSU in that May 1, 2015 game. Galassi's five hits makes him the eighth player in program history to get five hits in a game, and finished one shy of the WIU single-game record.
- The previous single-game RBI record was nine by Blake Schultz versus Centenary in May 2004. Galassi entered the game with 13 RBI in his 29 games played.
- Galassi's 10 RBI was the most by a NCAA Division I player this year entering Tuesday… until later in the day when a player from Indiana State drove in 11 runs.
- The two grand slams gives Western three hit this year (Chris Tschida the other).
- Galassi's 12 total bases are third-most in a game, and first reaching double-digits since Andrew Hagins had 10 against SDSU in April 2009.
- Galassi's two home runs in a game joins Thompson, who hit two earlier this year against North Dakota State. The two occasions in a season are the most since Hagins and Jason Summers each hit two homers in a game during the 2010 season.
- Galassi is now the sixth player in WIU history to score five runs in a game.
- Each team hit three home runs. SIUE hit three solo shots, Western accounted for 11 runs on its three homers.
 
 
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