
Salukis Earn Series Win Over Valpo Sunday
05/07/2023 | 4:06:00 | Baseball
Mathieu Vallee led the charge for the Salukis at the plate, going for a season-high four base hits, including a triple and a double in the win. Vallee drove in three of Southern's 10 runs. Kaeber Rog and Nathan Bandy also put together solid appearances at the plate, tallying three base hits.
Overall, SIU outhit Valpo 16-12 in the game – its highest hit total since April 2 on the road at Bradley when SIU had a season-high 18 hits.
Jake Combs earned his first MVC win of the season after pitching seven solid innings in the start, improving to 2-2 on the season. Combs allowed just two earned runs in the outing. After giving up three hits in the first, Combs settled in to allow only five more hits the rest of the game.
Valpo scored the first run of the game in the opening inning of action, but the Salukis answered back quickly with a two-spot in the second courtesy of a Vallee two-run triple. The Dawgs broke things open in the sixth inning, recording four base hits while also taking advantage of a walk and a Valpo throwing error.
After Cole Christman picked up a one-out walk, Southern went for four-straight base hits. Matt Schark drove in two runs with a bases-clearing triple to left center before Rog doubled home a run.
SIU added three more runs insurance runs in the eighth en route to the win.
Bobby Nowak was hit with the loss for Valpo after allowing three runs in five and a third innings, falling to 4-3 on the season. Alex Ryan and Alex Thurston led the Beacons with four hits apiece.
UP NEXT
The Salukis return to Itchy Jones Stadium for the final four home games of the regular season this week, beginning with a Tuesday matchup with SIUE at 6 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Combs, Jake (2-2)
L: Nowak, Bobby (4-3)

Batting:
2B: Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Vallee, Mathieu 1
3B: Vallee, Mathieu 1 ; Schark, Matt 1
RBI: Rog, Kaeber 1 ; Loden, Steven 2 ; Christman, Cole 1 ; Vallee, Mathieu 3 ; Schark, Matt 2
SH: Rodriguez, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 1 ; Eltoft, Bennett 1 ; Loden, Steven 2 ; Christman, Cole 2 ; Bandy, Nathan 2 ; Vallee, Mathieu 1 ; Schark, Matt 1
SB: Boucher, Pier-Olivier 3 ; Eltoft, Bennett 1 ; Loden, Steven 1
PO: Bandy, Nathan 1

Batting:
2B: Ryan, Alex 1 ; Maka, Ryan 1 ; Thurston, Alex 1
RBI: Ryan, Alex 1 ; Maka, Ryan 1 ; Skrine, Jake 1 ; Thurston, Alex 2 ; Nowicki, Brady 1
SF: Skrine, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Schmack, Kyle 2 ; Maka, Ryan 1 ; Skrine, Jake 1 ; Olive, Matt 1 ; Thurston, Alex 1
CS: Ryan, Alex 1
HBP: Schmack, Kyle 2 ; Skrine, Jake 1 ; Nowicki, Brady 1 ; Ilitch, Patrick 2