Two-run ninth gives SIU walk-off sweep over Illinois State

Sunday, May 14

Carbondale, Ill.

1 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

26-26, 9-9

Illinois State

12-37, 1-17

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Illinois State	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	2	2	9	12	1
Southern Illinois	0	1	0	3	0	1	3	0	2	10	15	1

05/14/2017 | 7:12:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Illinois State, 10-9, and complete the three-game sweep. Illinois State scored two in the top half of the ninth to take a 9-8 lead. With an 0-2 count, Ryan Smith hit the game-tying RBI single, and Greg Lambert followed with the walk-off RBI double.

The game featured huge momentum swings on both sides throughout the game. SIU (26-26, 9-9 MVC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead after four innings but surrendered five unanswered runs to fall behind 5-4. The Salukis battled back for an 8-5 lead after seven innings, but Illinois State took a 9-8 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Again, the Salukis battled back and scored two two-out runs to win the game.

"We didn't play great. We just kept battling and found a way to win," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "I'm proud of our guys. A couple times, it would have been easy to throw in the towel or not battle back. But we battled and found a way."

Dyllin Mucha came through with a two-out RBI single in the second inning. Connor Kopach and Ryan Smith pushed home three more runs in the fourth inning with singles through the left side.

Illinois State jumped right back with two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take a 5-4 lead, its first lead of the series. The Salukis answered right back with the tying run on an error in the bottom half of the inning. SIU (26-26, 9-9 MVC) took an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Mucha hit a ground-rule double, and Kopach followed with a sacrifice fly.

"Everybody is going to remember the ninth inning, but that was a great at-bat by Dyllin Mucha with the bases loaded to get us the lead back. That was huge," Henderson said.

But once again, the Redbirds came back with two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to take a 9-8 lead. In all, Illinois State had 12 hits and seven stolen bases.

"That's the most frustrating part. We didn't do a great job of pitching with a lead," Henderson said. "We need to execute better than that. It happened quickly. All of the sudden we found ourselves down. Every time we scored, we gave up runs."

Logan Blackfan started the ninth-inning comeback with an infield single. Ryan Sabo bunted him to second base, and Illinois State intentionally walked Dyllin Mucha, who was 3-for-3, to bring up the top of the order with the go-ahead run on base. Connor Kopach seemingly hit the game-tying single, but Redbird third baseman Ryan Hutchinson made a phenomenal diving stop and got a force out at second base.

Ryan Smith got down 0-2 in the count with two outs, but he came through with an RBI single to right field to score the game-tying run. On the very next pitch, Greg Lambert hit an RBI double down the left-field line to give SIU the win.

"We've needed clutch ABs, and we certainly got that in the last three innings," Henderson said. "Those were great ABs when it counted. Again, it wasn't the prettiest game, but we can build off what we did offensively in the last three innings."

The Salukis swept their fifth series of the year and got back to .500. SIU faces Saint Louis on Tuesday at Rent One Park in Marion, Ill., before closing the regular season at Bradley May 18-20.