Baseball falls in 10th inning at Missouri State

Saturday, May 22

Springfield, Mo.

2:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

28-27, 10-10

Missouri State

20-32, 6-15

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	5	13	3
Missouri State	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	0	0	1	6	11	2

05/22/2010 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

May 22, 2010

By Jason Clay
www.SIUSalukis.com

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Saluki catcher Tyler Bullock hit a two-run homer in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, but Missouri State's Aaron Conway had a RBI single in the 10th to give the Bears a 6-5 win over the Southern Illinois baseball team on Saturday in the regular season finale at Hammons Field.

The loss ends a five-game winning streak for the Salukis and they finish the regular season with a 28-27 overall record and 10-10 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Salukis stand in a tie for third place with Indiana State, but will be the No. 4 seed at next week's conference tournament. MSU improves to 20-32 and 6-15 with the win that ended SIU's 10-game winning streak in extra-inning games.

Saluki senior closer Bryant George broke the school record, as he made his 99th career appearance Saturday. He came into pitch in the eighth and stayed on through the 10. George was charged with the loss to fall to 4-2 on the year.

Bullock's homer was his third in two days and 14th of the season. Junior center fielder Chris Murphy led off the game with hiw first home run of the season. Nick Johnson had a team-high three hits and Murphy and freshman Brock Harding both had two hits in the game.

12 runners left on base and three errors that led to three Bear runs cost the Salukis Saturday.

Southern Illinois left-hander Jimmy Cornell lasted 5.0 innings in his 11th start this year. He yielded six hits and two runs, only one of which was earned. He did not receive the decision, but did leave the game with a 3-2 lead.

Missouri State's Grant Fordon (3-2) picked up the win, as he threw 3.2 innings of relief.

Southern Illinois held a 3-0 lead after a two-run fourth inning. With two outs, Harding doubled off the wall in right-center to score Nick Johnson and Aaron Roberts singled up the middle to plate Harding.

Missouri State came back with one run in the fourth and an unearned run in the fifth. Keenen Maddox then tied the game at three in the seventh with a RBI double.

After the double by Maddox, back-to-back Saluki errors allowed two more Bear runs to score to give MSU the 5-3 lead, its first of the series.

The Salukis left the bases loaded in the eighth, but Bullock then put SIU on his back as he just demolished a pitch in the top of the ninth for a two-run homer to right to tie the game at five and send it into extra innings.

SIU left a runner on third in the top of the 10th and Conway's single with two outs in the 10th won it for the Bears.