UMSL Falls to SIUE; Soaib Plays all Nine Positions

Edwardsville, Ill. – The UMSL baseball team lost 5-0 at SIU Edwardsville in non-conference game on Thursday night, and in the loss, UMSL's Tony Soaib accomplished a unique milestone.

Soaib accomplished what only four major league players have done in the history of major league baseball, joining the likes Bert Campaneris (1965), Cesar Tovar (1968), Scott Sheldon (2000) and Shane Halter (2000) as having played all nine fielding positions in the same game. Soaib started the game in right field, played left field in the second inning and center field in the third inning. He then moved to the infield and spent the fourth inning behind the plate as catcher. He moved to shortstop for the fifth inning, played third base in the sixth inning and second base in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Soaib came in as a relief pitcher and got the first hitter out, then moved to play first base for the final two outs of the game. Prior to this game, Soaib had played seven of the nine fielding positions during his career, having not played right field or center field, and had even played at the designated hitter spot during his career before this game.

SIUE grabbed the lead in the fifth inning, scoring three unearned runs to take the early lead. The Cougars then added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, both unearned runs, for the 5-0 win. SIUE pitching limited the UMSL offense to one hit on the night and the UMSL defense committed eight errors in the loss.

UMSL falls to 15-17 overall on the season. The Rivermen will play SIU Edwardsville again this weekend for three conference games, beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 pm and a single game Sunday at 1 pm.