Recap | Holguin Shines and Salukis Rally to Beat Murray State, 4-3

Saturday, April 13

Carbondale, IL

2 PM

Southern Illinois University

20-15, 0

Murray State

21-13, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Murray State	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	8	0
Southern Illinois	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	X	4	4	0

Photo by: Madison Giltner

Recap | Holguin Shines and Salukis Rally to Beat Murray State, 4-3

04/13/2024 | 4:30:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Tim McCaughan, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois baseball snapped a five-game skid Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium with a 4-3 comeback victory over Murray State to even the series.

The Salukis (20-15, 5-6 MVC) got a strong pitching performance from starter Al Holguin who went seven and a third innings to improve to 3-2 on the season. The southpaw struck out five Racers in the win.

After the Racers (21-13, 5-6 MVC) jumped out to an early lead with runs in the first and second inning, Nathan Bandy tied the game with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the second – the 20th & 21st RBI of the season for the outfielder.

An inning later the Salukis would go ahead for the first time after Mathieu Vallee connected on his third home run of the season on a ball off the foul pole in right field. Cole Christman added to the Saluki lead in the fourth with his seventh home run of the season to make it a 4-2 SIU advantage.

After allowing two runs in the first two innings of play, Holguin settled in to retire 11 straight Racers up until a single in the top of the seventh inning snapped the streak. Holguin would induce a double play to clear the bases to head to the stretch.

Holguin would go into the eighth inning before being lifted for Easton Dermody. The Racers put two runners on ahead of Dermody entering the game and would bring in one run on a single up the middle. Anthony Pron came in to get the final out of the inning to preserve the lead heading to the bottom half.

Pron came back out in the ninth to secure the win for the Salukis and earn his team-leading fifth save of the season.

Bandy finished with a hit and two RBIs to lead the squad. Christman, Vallee, and Justin Keuss had the only hits in the game for the Salukis.

Jacob Pennington was hit with his first loss of the season for the Racers falling to 3-1 on the year after allowing four runs in seven innings. Drew Vogel had two hits, including a leadoff homer to start the game.

UP NEXT
SIU and Murray State will play the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will air on The Varsity Network with Luke Martin calling the action.

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on X 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.