Friday, May 18
Carbondale, Ill.
3 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
26-28, 9-11
3
vs
2
Bradley
30-16, 11-9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Bradley
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
11
0
Southern Illinois
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
3
7
0
Salukis close regular season with two wins over Bradley
05/19/2018 | 6:59:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois baseball team closed the regular season with two wins over Bradley on Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Salukis won the opener 3-2 after a Jared Kengott walk-off RBI double, and the second game 3-0 in only five innings due to lightning.
The first game was started on Friday but suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning. The teams finished that game today, ending with Kengott's walk-off. Then, the second game of the day was called off due to lightning in the bottom of the sixth inning. Bradley had tied the game 3-3 in the top of the sixth; but since the teams were unable to finish the sixth inning, the game reverted back to the last completed inning (the fifth), and SIU got a 3-0 win.
In the first game, Bradley took a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Logan Blackfan came through with a two-out RBI double to tie the game. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, SIU earned its first walk-off win of the season. Hunter Anderson drew a leadoff walk, and Addison Fugitt ran for him. Austin Ulick sacrificed him to second base, and Kengott hit the first pitch for a flare double over the third baseman's head to win the game.
In the final game of the series, Brad Hudson led off the third inning with a bunt single, and Nikola Vasic followed with a hit-and-run triple down the right field line to give SIU a 1-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Logan Blackfan pounded a two-run homer in his final at-bat at Itchy Jones Stadium. After Bradley tied the game in the top of the sixth, the Salukis had two runner on and nobody out when the game was called.
Dylan Givens pitched the first five scoreless innings of the final game before handing the game to the bullpen in the sixth. With the game reverting back to the fifth inning, only a one-out double in the fifth inning prevented Givens from throwing a five-inning no-hitter. The Salukis took the series over Bradley, 2-1.
SIU honored eight seniors between games. All eight have had outstanding careers at SIU. Today, senior Allen Montgomery earned the win in the first game with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Blackfan extended his SIU doubles record and then homered in front of the home fans in his final home at-bat. Anderson set up Kengott's walk-off double by working a leadoff walk in the ninth.
The senior class goes out having overseen the biggest turnaround in the nation from 2015 to 2016 and led the program to 85 wins over the past three seasons. Blackfan holds SIU's doubles record; Ryan Netemeyer holds SIU's single-season and career saves records; Baird has been the best pitcher in the MVC in two of the last three seasons; and Connor Kopach is in the top-10 in school history in career games, at-bats, starts, doubles, and stolen bases.
SIU and Bradley got three results on the weekend, but no games were fully completed in one day. Thursday's season opener was suspended in the third inning due to lightning and finished on Friday. Then Friday's game was suspended in the fifth inning and finished today. And the third game of the series was called today after five innings. Bradley won the first game, and the Salukis won the next two to take the series.
Southern Illinois will be the No. 5 seed in next week's Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The Salukis will face No. 4-seed Indiana State at 9 a.m. in the tournament's first game on Wednesday, May 23. All game in the MVC Tournament will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Montgomery, Allen (2-0)
L: Gosswein, Brooks (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Shadid, Luke 1 ; Mangieri, Luke 1 ; Ivelia, Andrew 1
HR: Rice, Keaton 1
RBI: Shadid, Luke 1 ; Rice, Keaton 1
SH: Rice, Keaton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Garon, Jean-Francois 1 ; Rice, Keaton 1
SB: Shadid, Luke 1
CS: Shadid, Luke 1 ; Shadid, Andy 1
Batting:
2B: Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Kengott, Jared 2
RBI: Blackfan, Logan 1 ; Kengott, Jared 2
SH: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Ulick, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Anderson, Hunter 1 ; Fugitt, Addison 1 ; Hudson, Brad 1
CS: Vasic, Nikola 1 ; Lyon, Alex 1
HBP: Vasic, Nikola 1
PO: Hudson, Brad 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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