The Missouri State baseball team nearly fought out of an 8-0 hole and sent the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth before suffering an 8-7 Missouri Valley Conference loss to Southern Illinois Saturday evening at Hammons Field.

After spotting SIU eight runs, the Bears tallied three in the sixth and held the Salukis scoreless after that to set up the ninth-inning dramatics. Brayden Drake drove in the first run with a two-out RBI double and reliever Ian Reinhart hit Dallas Hord to set up Ben Carlson’s three-run homer that made the score 8-7. Ryan Mantle followed with a single, but SIU reliever Bryant George struck out the final batter to save the victory for his Salukis.

SIU turned a walk into its first run in the top of the second and got a solo homer from Tyler Lairson with two outs in the fourth to gain a 2-0 advantage.

Then in the fifth, Mark Kelly’s RBI single with no outs chased starter Buddy Baumann (2-2) from the game in favor of Jon Barnes. Baumann struck out seven Salukis over four frames. Barnes surrendered hits to the first two batters he faced and hit another to load the bases with no outs and SIU pushed four more runs across to lead 7-0 halfway through the contest.

Following another SIU run in the sixth, Carlson drove in Nolan Keane with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to put the Bears on the scoreboard. Mantle then ripped a double and Josh Mazzola knocked a two-run single to pull MSU within 8-3.

Freshman Cody Aycock pitched the final three innings for Missouri State, allowing just a bunt single and striking out two. Carlson had three hits and four RBIs, Mantle added three hits and Keane doubled twice as the offense amassed 14 hits.

The Bears fell to 16-7 overall, while SIU moved to 13-9. Both teams are 3-2 in the Valley.

The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.