Salukis beat No. 29 Arkansas State on the road, 4-3

Tuesday, April 2

State University, Ark.

5 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

15-10

Arkansas State

19-10

Southern Illinois

Arkansas State

04/02/2019 | 8:37:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: By John Lock | SIUSalukis.com

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JONESBORO, Ark. - The Southern Illinois baseball team used an outstanding start by Mason Hiser and a three-run sixth inning to beat No. 29 Arkansas State 4-3 on Tuesday evening at Tomlinson Stadium.

Hiser was outstanding, allowing just one earned run over 6.1 innings against a high-powered A-State team that had just won a road series at nationally ranked Coastal Carolina last weekend. After Arkansas State (19-10) hit a solo homer in the second inning, Hiser threw four-straight scoreless innings, allowing SIU (15-10) to tie the game in the third and take the lead with a three-run sixth inning.

Sam Grace relieved Hiser and pitched out of a jam in the seventh, and Grace mowed down the heart of the Red Wolves order with a perfect eighth inning. Arkansas State loaded the bases in the ninth inning and scored a run on a bases-loaded walk, but Trey McDaniel got a strikeout to secure his MVC-best eighth save of the season.

"I think it boils down to a really good job on the mound," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "Hiser was outstanding. That's a really good offensive club. To beat a good offensive club on the road, he had to really pitch. He pitched backwards a little bit. He just competed. Grace did a great job, and Trey found a way to finish it. Two earned runs on the road against a really good offensive club--that's a great effort."

SIU used its two biggest attributes to score its first run of the game. The Salukis came into the game ranked fourth nationally in both stolen bases and sacrifice flies. In the third inning, Will LaRue stole third base with one out and scored on a sac fly by Ian Walters to tie the game, 1-1.

SIU took the lead in the sixth. Nikola Vasic led off with a double, and Walters drove him in with a single. After SIU loaded the bases with no outs, J.T. Weber drove home another run on a sac fly to center, and Alex Lyon beat the throw to third, which allowed Colin Butkiewicz to drive him home with yet another sacrifice fly. SIU's three sac flies vaulted SIU into a tie for the national lead in sacrifice flies this year with 23.

"We have to manufacture and execute, and we were able to do that," Henderson said. "We had the right guys on, and then executed to get them in. A couple of those sac flies were with two strikes, so we really battled."

The win was Southern's biggest this season. Arkansas State was ranked No. 29 nationally by Collegiate Baseball and top-50 in the RPI. The Red Wolves were 10-1 at home this season coming into the game, while SIU was just 3-8 on the road.

"We've talked about needing to win on the road and beat good teams on the road," Henderson said. "We did that today. This is a place where we have struggled to win. We have played well, but they're hard to beat here. If you go back a few years, we've been in games but couldn't finish. That's a huge step for our club to finish it and get out of here with a W against a really good club."

SIU is back at home for a three-game series against preseason MVC favorites Missouri State this weekend at Itchy Jones Stadium. The series is the MVC opener for SIU. Both Friday night's 6:30 p.m. game and Saturday's 2 p.m. game will have free admission as a part of SASF's appreciation week.

"That's a big win for us, and the timing is right," Henderson said. "To get over that hump and get a W on the road, I think we will build off that."