Southern Illinois University
23-14
Austin Peay
19-19
Salukis Walk Off Austin Peay, Fifth of the Season
04/18/2023 | 9:34:00 | Baseball
Bennett Eltoft led the way offensively for SIU (23-14), going 4-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored.
The Governors (19-19) stormed ahead to an early 4-0 lead, capped off by a two-run double from Jacob Curtis.
Eltoft cut the lead to three with a solo home run in the bottom of the second. After Cole Christman cut the lead to two in the bottom of the third, Eltoft struck again with a three-run blast to right field that put the Salukis ahead by one. It is Eltoft's second multi-home run game of the season, his first coming against UIC on March 25.
Austin Peay scored four runs over the next three innings to take an 8-5 lead in to the stages of the game. Lyle Miller-Green added another on a solo home run the top of the eighth to give the Governors a four-run lead.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, center fielder Mathieu Vallee hit an infield single that knocked in a run and added SIU's first run since the third inning. The next pitch was a two-run double from Nathan Bandy that cut the deficit to one run. Thanks to a single from Pier-Olivier Boucher and an error, the game was tied at nine heading into the ninth inning.
After the first two batters reached base, first baseman Matt Schark walked the game off with a hit off the wall in left field. It is Schark's third walk-off hit of the season.
Paul Bonzagni (7-2) earned his Missouri Valley Conference leading seventh win after striking out two of the three batters he faced in the top of the ninth inning. Matthew Steidl and Shane Wilhelm each allowed only one run in 2.1 innings pitched out of the bullpen.
Davin Pollard (3-2) took his second loss after giving up the winning run in the ninth inning.
Clayton Gray led the way for Austin Peay after coming up a home run shy of the cycle. He tallied three hits and knocked in three RBIs.
UP NEXT
Southern Illinois travels to Indiana State for an important series against the league-leading Sycamores starting Friday.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bonzagni, Paul (7-2)
L: POLLARD, D. (3-2)
Batting:
2B: GRAY, C. 1 ; GAZDAR, J. 1 ; CURTIS, J. 2
3B: GRAY, C. 1
HR: MILLER-GREEN 1 ; BROWN, H. 1
RBI: GRAY, C. 3 ; MILLER-GREEN 1 ; GAZDAR, J. 1 ; BROWN, H. 1 ; BROWN, J. 1 ; CURTIS, J. 2
Base Running:
RUNS: GRAY, C. 1 ; MILLER-GREEN 1 ; GAZDAR, J. 1 ; BROWN, H. 1 ; BROWN, J. 1 ; BAY, J. 1 ; CURTIS, J. 3
SB: MARTIN, G. 1
HBP: MARTIN, G. 1 ; CURTIS, J. 1
Batting:
2B: Bandy, Nathan 1 ; Vallee, Mathieu 1
HR: Eltoft, Bennett 2
RBI: Bandy, Nathan 2 ; Christman, Cole 1 ; Eltoft, Bennett 4 ; Schark, Matt 1 ; Vallee, Mathieu 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bandy, Nathan 1 ; Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Rodriguez, Ryan 1 ; Christman, Cole 1 ; Loden, Steven 1 ; Eltoft, Bennett 3 ; Schark, Matt 1 ; Vallee, Mathieu 1
SB: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 2
HBP: Loden, Steven 1 ; Eltoft, Bennett 1
