Southern Illinois University
42-15
Dallas Baptist
34-22-1
Salukis keep season alive with 7-5 win over Patriots
05/28/2022 | 2:57:00 | Baseball
SIU advances to tonight's 7 p.m. contest against loser of UE/Missouri State.
The Southern Illinois University baseball team advanced in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 7-5 win over the defending MVC champion Dallas Baptist Patriots Saturday afternoon at Hammons Field.
The Salukis scored five of their seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings and survived a late rally by the Patriots to earn the right to play the loser of Evansville vs. Missouri State in an elimination game tonight at 7 p.m. Southern used a three-run, two-out single by Ryan Rodriguez in the seventh and a two-run home run by Nick Hagedorn in the eighth to keep their season alive.Â
Rodriguez, hitting in the cleanup spot, tied career-highs in both hits (3) and RBI (4) and came through every time Southern needed him too. The Cathedral City, Calif. native's single in the third gave SIU its first lead of the contest and his seventh inning single broke a 2-2 tie and handed Southern the lead for good. Hagedorn's two run blast, meanwhile, was his second in as many days and proved to be crucial especially after the Patriots scored a pair of runs with two outs in the ninth.
Starting pitcher Jake Combs threw four innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts. Combs gave the ball to Matthew Steidl, who improved to 7-3 on the season after he threw four and two-third innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits. The 2022 All-MVC First Teamer faced the minimum through his first three innings of work and struck out five while issuing just one walk. After The Patriots cut their deficit to two and sent the go-ahead run to the plate with two-outs in the ninth, Trey McDaniel came on and got the game's final out to earn the save.
The Salukis got on the board first in the bottom of the third. Nick Hagedorn worked a six-pitch walk and went first-to-third on a single by Kaeber Rog. Ryan Rodriguez followed with a two-out single that scored Hagedorn to stake SIU to an early lead.
Dallas Baptist answered back in the top of the fourth with a trio of two-out hits to go ahead, 2-1.
Grey Epps immediately tied the contest in the bottom-half of the fourth, as he took the first pitch he saw deep to left field for his 13th home run of the season.
After Steidl came on in relief of Combs and retired the first 10 batters that he faced in order, the Salukis again did their damage with two outs in the seventh. Jack Rigoni doubled to the gap in right, DBU then intentionally walked Weber and Rog worked a seven-pitch walk to load the bases for Rodriguez, who smoked a single down the right field line to clear the bases.Â
The Patriots scratched across a run in the top of the eighth after they used a double and a single to cut their deficit to two, 5-3. The Salukis plated a pair of insurance runs in the eighth on Hagedorn's ninth home run of the season. Dallas Baptist again drew to within two in the ninth, but McDaniel got SIU out of the jam with a strikeout to end the contest.
The Salukis will play the loser of Evansville vs. Missouri State at 7 p.m. to determine who advances to Sunday's MVC Tournament Championship.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Steidl, Matthew (7-3)
L: Rose, Brady (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Jones, Blayne 1 ; Specht, George 1 ; Heefner, Luke 2
RBI: Santos, Miguel 1 ; Specht, George 2 ; Heefner, Luke 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Moore, Cole 2 ; Jones, Blayne 2 ; Heefner, Luke 1
Batting:
2B: Rigoni, Jack 1
HR: Epps, Grey 1 ; Hagedorn, Nick 1
RBI: Rodriguez, Ryan 4 ; Epps, Grey 1 ; Hagedorn, Nick 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Rigoni, Jack 1 ; Weber, J.T. 1 ; Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Epps, Grey 2 ; Hagedorn, Nick 2
