CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Missouri State baseball team rebounded from an 11-1 loss in game one to earn a 5-4 comeback win in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader for its second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference series victory at Abe Martin Field in Carbondale, Ill.
    
    The Bears improved to 21-13 overall and 4-2 in MVC play, while SIU dropped to 13-22 and 4-2 in the league.

    Missouri State returns to action Tuesday with a 6 p.m. game at Kansas State.

Game 1 Recap
Southern Illinois scored all 11 of its runs with two outs in the 11-1 run-rule victory over the Bears. The Salukis got a two-run double from Jordan Sivertsen and an RBI single from Nick Johnson in the first, and a grand slam from Sivertsen in the second for a 7-0 lead.

    SIU starter Cody Forsythe (4-3) tossed a complete game, allowing seven hits and a run. He allowed one runner to reach base his first time through the MSU lineup, and the Bears got him later on but were unable to capitalize, stranding eight runners in the contest.

    Aaron Conway’s sacrifice fly in the fifth scored Patrick Drake for MSU’s only run, though his streak of 33 consecutive games reaching base safely came to an end. Kevin Medrano logged the Bears’ lone multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 effort.
    
    Missouri State’s two-out woes continued in the seventh. Just as in SIU’s previous two scoring frames, the bases were empty with two outs and no runs across before two walks and an infield single preceded an MSU error that allowed a pair of runs to score. Brock Harding followed with an RBI double, and the Bears failed to corral the relay throw in from left, letting the 11th run to score and end the game.
    
    Grant Gordon (3-4) went 5.2 innings in the loss, striking out four against 10 hits and seven runs, three earned. J.C. Casey pitched the final inning, allowing four unearned runs.

Game 2 Recap
SIU looked poised for the doubleheader sweep, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before the Bears came back to win 5-4 in game two.

    The Salukis opened the scoring with Chris Murphy’s sacrifice fly in the third, then continued the trend of two-out runs from the first game with Jake’s Welch’s RBI single in the fourth and Sivertsen’s two-run double in the fifth to go ahead 4-0.

    The Bears halved SIU’s lead in the sixth, getting an RBI single from Luke Voit and a sac fly from Brett Marshall out of a bases loaded, one-out scenario.

    Brent Seifert tied the game by bombing his seventh homer of the year with two outs in the seventh, and Missouri State grabbed the lead in the eighth when Travis McComack lifted a sac fly off SIU closer Tyler Dray.

    Missouri State closer Dan Kickham took over in the eighth with the 5-4 lead, following Blake Barber’s (5-2) seven strong innings in the start. Kickham walked two in the eighth before an inning-ending double play, and retired the first two hitters of the ninth before yielding a single and striking out Wes Neece to record his eighth save of the year, tying Matt Frevert’s 2008 campaign for third in school history for a single season.