Baseball drops series-opener to Bradley, 7-3

Friday, April 11

Carbondale, Ill.

3:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

18-13, 3-4

Bradley

14-15, 5-5

Bradley

Southern Illinois

04/11/2008 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

April 11, 2008

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Colby Luttrell's three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning lifted Bradley University (14-15, 5-5) to a 7-3 win over Southern Illinois (18-13, 3-4) earlier today in Missouri Valley Conference action at Abe Martin Field.

Tied, 3-3, after SIU sent the game to extra innings in the bottom of the ninth, BU had runners on first and second with no outs in the 10th.

SIU opted not to pitch around the Braves' cleanup hitter, and Luttrell made the Dawgs pay.

Luttrell, ahead 1-0 in the count, took Saluki reliever Adam Curynski just over the 390 feet sign in straightaway center to give BU the lead. Brett Hendricks singled in the other run after Adam Hills dropped a routine fly ball in foul territory to nail down the 7-3 win. The hit marked the first of Hendricks' career.

SIU fell behind, 2-0, but tied the game up on Tyler Bullock's solo home run with two outs in the sixth.

The Braves took a 3-2 lead after Escue's sacrifice fly plated Matt Fritz in the ninth, before the Salukis tied things up during their at-bat in the same inning.

Brad Altbach (2-4) earned the win in relief after allowing three hits and one run in 2.1 innings.

Jimmy Cornell (1-1) suffered the loss for SIU. Cornell gave up one hit and was charged with the go-ahead run.

BU registered 18 hits on the day, including six in the 10th inning. Escue and Jim Clayton each went 3-for-4 to lead the way.

SIU had 11 hits. Freshman Chris Murphy went 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI to lead all Salukis.

SIU and BU resume their series tomorrow at 2 p.m., CST. Lefthander Shawn Joy will start on the mound for the Dawgs.