CARBONDALE, Ill. – A two-out single in the bottom of the ninth by Southern Illinois' Connor Kopach drove home Nick Hutchins to give the Salukis a walk-off win over the Illinois baseball team, 3-2, Saturday at Itchy Jones Stadium. The hit sent the Fighting Illini home with two losses on the day after falling 9-3 to Northern Illinois earlier in the afternoon.
Kopach's liner tipped off the glove of Adam Walton, who was fully outstretched at the top of his jump attempting to force extra innings. J.D. Nielsen (1-1) allowed three singles in the ninth to take the loss.
Doug Hayes turned in another strong outing on the mound. He settled down to retire 12 straight Southern Illinois (10-7-1) batters through the middle innings after allowing single runs in both the first and second innings.
Hayes went 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on three hits, while striking out seven. He walked two in the first inning but got ahold of his command and did not issue another free pass until the sixth.
Illinois (7-9) also scored single tallies in each of the first two frames. Anthony Drago took a bases-loaded walk to start the scoring and Dan Rowbottom sliced a double to left center to score Walton from first base in the second. Rowbottom, who went 5 for 8 in the two games, finished with three hits and Walton had two.
Jack Yalowitz bridged the gap between Hayes and Nielsen with 1.1 innings of shutout work. The freshman rebounded after taking the loss in the Illini's first game of the day.
Illinois gets another chance at SIU tomorrow at 3 p.m. CT. The Illini follow a noon contest between Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois.
