Missouri State built a 9-1 lead Friday after four trips to the plate and held on for a 10-9 win after Southern Illinois scored seven runs over the middle three innings and then sent the winning run to the plate three times in the ninth at Abe Martin Field in Carbondale, Ill.
Jon Barnes struck out the last two Salukis with runners on the corners, helping the Bears move to 4-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference and 14-12 overall. SIU fell to 12-17 and 3-4 in the league.
The Bears scored five in the second on RBI singles from Chris Player and
Tyler Ryun, a sacrifice fly from
Aaron Conway and RBI doubles from
Kevin Medrano and
Ben Carlson.
Trevor Rogers tripled off the wall in left and scored on Playter’s squeeze in the third, and Playter pushed his RBI total to four in the game in the fourth with a two-run single after Carlson’s seventh home run of the season, giving the Bears a 9-1 lead.
The Salukis put up two-spots in the fourth and fifth frames to pull within 9-5, but the Bears answered in the sixth, putting the first two men on base. A double play left just
Dallas Hord on third with two outs, and
Travis McComack grounded what looked like the third out to shortstop, but first baseman Chris Serritella dropped the throw to let Hord score for a 10-5 lead.
Tyler Bullock swatted a two-run homer in the sixth and MSU’s third error allowed another SIU run across to send the game into the seventh with the visitors leading 10-8.
Tim Clubb (3-1) retired the last seven hitters he faced on the way to striking out six against one walk and five earned runs in eight innings. The win was the 20th of his MSU career, tying him for seventh in school history, and it was the 13th time Clubb has pitched at least eight innings.
In the ninth,
Brant Combs retired a batter but yielded a single, bringing Barnes in from the bullpen. Barnes gave up another single to bring the winning run to the plate, and Mark Kelly singled the lead runner home to make the score 10-9. Barnes then struck out Serritella and Jordan Sivertsen for his second save of the year.
All nine MSU starters notched at least one hit, with Carlson, Hord and Ryun finishing with three apiece.
The Bears and Salukis meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday.
