Friday, February 24
Jacksonville, AL
3 PM
Southern Illinois University
3-3
8
at
7
Jacksonville St.
1-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
0
3
0
1
0
0
4
0
8
10
2
Jacksonville State
0
0
0
0
3
0
1
0
3
7
8
1
Salukis Take Series Opener at Jacksonville State
02/24/2023 | 6:17:00 | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Steven Loden recorded two home runs in a game for the second time this season as the Southern Illinois baseball team picked up an 8-7 series-opening victory over Jacksonville State Friday afternoon on the road.
It wasn't until the third inning before either team was able to push a run across the plate and like so many times this season, Southern delivered clutch at bats with two outs on the scoreboard. After being put on base on a hit-by-pitch, Bennett Eltoft came all the way home the next at bat as Kaeber Rog delivered the first run of the game with a double to the gap in left.
The Salukis (3-3) would add on to that lead the next at bat as Loden hit his first home run of the day out to right field to make it a 3-0 Saluki advantage. SIU added another home run in the fifth inning as Eltoft hit his second home run of the season.
Two hits and a Saluki error in the fifth inning led to a trio of runs for Jacksonville State as Hernandez made SIU pay with a three-run home run to cut the lead to 4-3.
It was the seventh when JSU was able to push the tying run across the plate. Michael Dallas was hit-by-pitch with two outs and stole second before Javon Hernandez tallied his fourth RBI of the day with a single to right to tie the game at four.
Loden hit a leadoff bomb in the eighth to give SIU back the lead and the Salukis added three much-needed insurance runs in the inning as well. Pier-Olivier Boucher and Cole Christman reached base before SIU scored on a fielder's choice on back-to-back plays. Eltoft capped off the scoring for SIU with a two-out RBI single to center.
Jacksonville State (1-4) made things interesting after loading the bases in the ninth before T.J. Reeves cleared them with a three-run double with two outs to cut the SIU lead to just one run. Matthew Steidl entered the game needing one out and would get the swinging strikeout to secure the win en route to his first save of the season.
Ben Chapman tossed five complete innings, striking out two and allowing three earned runs. Scott Harper (1-0) was credited with the victory after tossing two innings in relief, striking out four of the nine batters he faced.
JSU's AJ Causey went five innings in the start giving up four runs, including two home runs. Trey Fortner took the loss for the Gamecocks, falling to 0-2 out of the bullpen.
UP NEXT
The two squads return to the field Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on Twitter at @SIU_Baseball, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiBaseball and on Instagram at @SIU_Baseball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.
It wasn't until the third inning before either team was able to push a run across the plate and like so many times this season, Southern delivered clutch at bats with two outs on the scoreboard. After being put on base on a hit-by-pitch, Bennett Eltoft came all the way home the next at bat as Kaeber Rog delivered the first run of the game with a double to the gap in left.
The Salukis (3-3) would add on to that lead the next at bat as Loden hit his first home run of the day out to right field to make it a 3-0 Saluki advantage. SIU added another home run in the fifth inning as Eltoft hit his second home run of the season.
Two hits and a Saluki error in the fifth inning led to a trio of runs for Jacksonville State as Hernandez made SIU pay with a three-run home run to cut the lead to 4-3.
It was the seventh when JSU was able to push the tying run across the plate. Michael Dallas was hit-by-pitch with two outs and stole second before Javon Hernandez tallied his fourth RBI of the day with a single to right to tie the game at four.
Loden hit a leadoff bomb in the eighth to give SIU back the lead and the Salukis added three much-needed insurance runs in the inning as well. Pier-Olivier Boucher and Cole Christman reached base before SIU scored on a fielder's choice on back-to-back plays. Eltoft capped off the scoring for SIU with a two-out RBI single to center.
Jacksonville State (1-4) made things interesting after loading the bases in the ninth before T.J. Reeves cleared them with a three-run double with two outs to cut the SIU lead to just one run. Matthew Steidl entered the game needing one out and would get the swinging strikeout to secure the win en route to his first save of the season.
Ben Chapman tossed five complete innings, striking out two and allowing three earned runs. Scott Harper (1-0) was credited with the victory after tossing two innings in relief, striking out four of the nine batters he faced.
JSU's AJ Causey went five innings in the start giving up four runs, including two home runs. Trey Fortner took the loss for the Gamecocks, falling to 0-2 out of the bullpen.
UP NEXT
The two squads return to the field Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on Twitter at @SIU_Baseball, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiBaseball and on Instagram at @SIU_Baseball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harper, Scott (1-0)
L: Trey Fortner (0-2)
S: Steidl, Matthew (1)
Batting:
2B: Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Christman, Cole 2
HR: Eltoft, Bennett 1 ; Loden, Steven 2
RBI: Eltoft, Bennett 2 ; Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Loden, Steven 3 ; Cook, Noah 1 ; Schark, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Eltoft, Bennett 2 ; Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Loden, Steven 2 ; Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Christman, Cole 1 ; Schark, Matt 1
SB: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Schark, Matt 1
HBP: Eltoft, Bennett 1
Batting:
2B: T.J. Reeves 1
HR: Javon Hernandez 1
RBI: Javon Hernandez 4 ; T.J. Reeves 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Javon Hernandez 1 ; Mason Maners 1 ; Bear Madliak 1 ; Bump Burgreen 1 ; Will Fincher 1 ; Michael Dallas 2
SB: Michael Dallas 1
HBP: Michael Dallas 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
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