Salukis Take Down Bison, Wednesday's Game Canceled

Tuesday, March 3

3 PM

Southern Illinois University

4-7

North Dakota State

1-11

North Dakota St.

Southern Ill.

Cecil Lofton celebrates with teammate Matt Irvine after a three-run home run in Southern Illinois' 9-4 win over North Dakota State on Tuesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Ill.

Photo by: Abby Harris

03/03/2026 | 7:37:00 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Jordan Kruse, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois Baseball defeated North Dakota State 9-4 in a midweek matchup on Tuesday at Itchy Jones Stadium.

For the fifth game in a row, Southern's opponent scored in the first inning as Colten Becker put the Bison on the board with an RBI single.

SIU bounced back quickly as Julio Guerrero, Kaleb Hall and Michael Mylott each collected an RBI in the bottom of the first to put SIU up 3-1.

A leadoff double in the second helped NDSU grab another run, but SIU starter Alec Ammerman settled down and retired the next eight batters before being relieved by Josh Hyneman in the fourth.

In his first start for the Salukis, Ammerman pitched 3.2 innings, allowing two earned runs with five strikeouts.

Cecil Lofton notched the first of his four RBIs on the night with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

A leadoff walk caused Hyneman some trouble in the top of the fifth, and a Saluki error gave NDSU's Kaden Connor a big opportunity to tie the game with two runners in scoring position and nobody out. Connor came through with a base hit up the middle to tie the game at four, forcing Hyneman to score and put Blake Kimball in the game.

Kimball kept the Bison at bay by retiring the first three batters he faced, setting up Jaden Flores to put the Salukis right back in front with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Guerrero added his second run-scoring base knock in the sixth, and Southern would never relinquish its lead.

Looking for insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, Lofton came through with one of his biggest swings of the season, an opposite-field three-run home run to give Southern a 9-4 lead. The homer is his third of the year.

A collection of Dawson Hargrove, Tyson Greene, Dylan Petrey, Jack MacIntosh and Matt Irvine combined to shut out the Bison over the final four frames, with Irvine collecting the final out.

Kimball (1-1) earned his first victory of the season, while NDSU's Ethan Swaby (0-1) took the loss.

Lofton led the day for Southern offensively, tallying four RBIs and two runs scored. Julio Guerrero added three hits with two RBIs and two stolen bases, adding to his Missouri Valley Conference-leading total of 10 on the young season.

SIU improves to 4-7 on the season, while North Dakota State falls to 1-11.

UP NEXT
Southern Illinois and North Dakota State will not play their matchup on Wednesday due to impending storms in the region. The Salukis will travel to Minneapolis to play in the Cambria Classic beginning Friday at 3 p.m. against Omaha in U.S. Bank Stadium.

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