Southern Illinois University
13-12
UT Martin
7-19
Salukis Walk Off UT Martin to Sweep Season Series
03/28/2023 | 9:31:00 | Baseball
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois baseball extended their winning streak to five games after walking off against UT Martin on Tuesday. It is the second walk-off in the last three games for the Salukis.
After UT Martin (7-19) took the lead in the top of the first, the Dawgs (13-12) tied the game in the bottom of the second thanks to a wild pitch from Zach Wager.
Pier-Olivier Boucher put the Salukis ahead by one after a solo home run to left center. His seven home runs on the season are tied for third in the Missouri Valley Conference.
UT Martin added one in the fifth and two in the sixth thanks to two wild pitches and two errors from the Salukis. They led 4-2 halfway through the contest.
The teams engaged in a back-and-forth in the fifth and sixth innings. Cole Christman drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to cut into the Skyhawk lead.
Junior Steven Loden hit his eighth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth, a solo shot that cut the lead back to one. He leads the Salukis in home runs and is now tied for second in The Valley.
Both teams were held in check in the final three innings until the bottom of the ninth when Cole Christman knocked in his second RBI of the night with an RBI double to right center. But the Salukis could not get the winning run home and the game was headed to extra innings.
In the bottom of the tenth, a throwing error by UT Martin allowed Matt Schark to score the winning run, and the Salukis came away victorious.
Paul Bonzagni (3-2) earned his third victory of the season in relief. He pitched two innings, allowed zero runs, two hits, and struck out four.
Jordan Bloemer made his second start of the season for SIU. He was removed in the top of the fifth after 4.1 innings pitched, two earned runs, five hits, and struck out five.
Nathan Bandy put together another fantastic performance versus UT Martin. He combined for seven hits in 10 at-bats including three runs scored and two doubles.
Eli Martin (0-1) took the loss for UT Martin after pitching in the bottom of the tenth. Hunter McLean, Blaze Bell, and Mac Danford each tallied two hits in the game.
UP NEXT
The Salukis will hit the road this weekend and travel to Bradley for a three-game series. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday night.
FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bonzagni, Paul (3-2)
L: MARTIN (0-1)
Batting:
2B: SELF 1
3B: SMITH 1 ; MCLEAN 1
RBI: HOBSON, C. 1 ; BELL 1 ; SELF 1 ; DANFORD 1
SF: HOBSON, C. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: FERNANDEZ 1 ; SMITH 1 ; MCLEAN 2 ; DANFORD 1
SB: HOBSON, C. 1 ; MCLEAN 1
Batting:
2B: Bandy, Nathan 1 ; Christman, Cole 1
HR: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Loden, Steven 1
RBI: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Christman, Cole 2 ; Loden, Steven 1
SH: Vallee, Mathieu 1
SF: Christman, Cole 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bandy, Nathan 2 ; Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Eltoft, Bennett 1 ; Loden, Steven 1 ; Schark, Matt 1
SB: Rodriguez, Ryan 1 ; Eltoft, Bennett 1
