CARBONDALE, Ill. — Illinois baseball dropped the Sunday rubber match at Southern Illinois, 7-5. Five Illini hitters registered multi-hit games, including junior OF Cam McDonald who notched three hits and two RBI to lead the Illini at the plate. McDonald has now reached base safely in every game this season (18 consecutive games) and is currently riding a 16-game hit streak.
Illinois (7-10) scored two runs in the top of the first inning as sophomore first baseman Justin Janas logged his first of two doubles on the afternoon. The Illini added another run in the fifth, but Southern Illinois (15-5) would respond with a three-run inning to knot the score heading into the sixth.
Both teams scored two more runs apiece to tie the score at five. With the game-winning run on third base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Cam McDonald made an incredible full extension diving catch down the left field line to send the game to extra innings. Southern Illinois ended up winning on a walk-off two-run homerun in the bottom of the tenth inning, also taking the three-game weekend series.
NOTES
• Cam McDonald has hit safely in 15 consecutive games and has reached base in every game this season (17 game on-base streak).
• Justin Janas had his first multi-extra base hit game of the season and second of his career, tallying two doubles.
• Five Illini had multi-hit games.
