Hall's Heroics Lift Southern to 5-4 Victory over UIC, Open Valley with Win

Friday, March 20

Chicago, IL

4:05 PM

Southern Illinois University

9-11, 0-1

UIC

4-14-1, 0-1

Southern Ill.

Ill.-Chicago

Michael Mylott takes a swing during Southern Illinois' 16-6 loss to SIUE on March 10 in Edwardsville, Ill.

Photo by: Jordan Kruse

Hall's Heroics Lift Southern to 5-4 Victory over UIC, Open Valley with Win

03/20/2026 | 10:20:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Jordan Kruse, SIUSalukis.com

CHICAGO, Ill. - Kaleb Hall's two-run home run in the ninth helped SIU steal a 5-4 victory from UIC in the Missouri Valley Conference opener Friday in Chicago. Hall's home run was his first of the season, and it could not have come at a better time for the Salukis.

On a predictably windy day in Chicago, runs were tough to come by early. It took Southern until the fifth inning to collect its first hit off Flames' starter Mason Lei. Even UIC could only scratch across unearned runs in the second and fourth innings, taking advantage of two Saluki errors.

Andrew Evans' sixth start as a Saluki was filled with many ups and downs. He did not allow an earned run on the day despite surrendering five walks in five innings, but made up for it with eight strikeouts and was largely responsible for keeping his team in the game.

As Julio Guerrero did earlier in the week against UT Martin, Jaden Flores started a rally with a bunt single in the sixth. After Jacob McKenzie singled to right, Henry Kufa put down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with one out. Down 1-2 in the count, Guerrero leaned back and drove a three-run home run over the left-field fence to give Southern a 3-2 lead in the sixth. The homer was Guerrero's second of the season.

Free passes were an issue for the SIU pitching staff all day long, walking eight UIC Flames and hitting four more.

A leadoff walk, a hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch were detrimental to Southern's Jack MacIntosh in the seventh inning, as Alexander Wright put the Flames back on top with a two-out, two-run single.

Needing one run to tie in the ninth, Tim Simay's leadoff single immediately put the tying run on base. With Simay's nagging leg injury, Head Coach Lance Rhodes pinch-ran Bryce Habuda in hopes of some more speed on the bases. Kaleb Hall rendered the move useless as he smashed a two-run homer on the very next pitch, his first of the season, and his biggest swing of the 2026 campaign.

Habuda's impact would come on the defensive end, as reliever Charlie Miller followed an all-too-common trend on Friday, allowing a single before proceeding to walk then hit the next two batters with one away. Wright then stepped to the plate with a chance to deliver his second big hit of the day, but a 6-4-3 double play with a turn at second from Habuda ended the game and sealed the victory for SIU.

Jack MacIntosh improved to 2-0 on the season, while Charlie Miller escaped with a save. Zack Millsap fell to 0-3 for the Flames.

UP NEXT
Southern Illinois will look to take the series Saturday at 2:05 p.m.

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