BOONEVILLE, Miss. -- Fighting Illini baseball (9-6) clinched a series win with a wild 12-10 victory over Southern Illinois (8-12) at The Plex in a back-and-forth affair.
With the game tied at 9-9 in the sixth, Drake Westcott launched his second home run of the game, a solo shot, to give Illinois a lead that they would not give back. Jacob Schroeder followed two batters later with his second solo blast of the contest that would end up being the game winner.
The Salukis would put runners on the corners with nobody out to begin the seventh, but Korey Bunselmeyer came out of the bullpen and kept the Illini lead at two, catching the first two batters he faced looking before Brody Harding cut down a runner breaking for home on an attempted double steal to end the inning.
Branden Comia would push a run across in the seventh to make it a 12-9 ballgame going into the eighth.
Southern Illinois again threatened, scoring once thanks to a pair of hits and errors, but TJ Constertina entered the ballgame left the bases loaded, inducing a pop-up in foul territory to keep the game at 12-10.
Constertina walked the first batter he faced in ninth but got the next batter to bounce into a double-play before getting a flyout to earn his second save the season.
The Salukis scratched a run across their first time up to open up the contest, but Westcott responded with his first homer of the game, a two-out, two-run, no-doubter to right.
The lead would then change hands two more times over the next two innings, with Southern Illinois scoring twice in the second to make it 3-2 and Illinois scoring three times in the second to make it 5-3. Schroeder would go yard to start the frame and the Illini would later get RBIs from Danny Doligale and Comia.
The Salukis plated one in the third but the Illini extended the lead to 7-4 in the bottom half after Cal Hejza drew a walk with the bases loaded and Doligale was then hit by a pitch.
Southern Illinois grabbed the lead again by scoring four times in the top of fourth to make it 8-7, but Ryan Moerman doubled home a pair with two outs to make 9-8 Illinois.
After the Salukis scored in the fifth to tie the game, John Lundgren kept them off the board in the sixth, setting up the decisive bottom half of the inning.
The Illini have a chance at a series sweep tomorrow, with first pitch from The Plex scheduled for 12:00 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Head coach Dan Hartleb picked up career win 516 and is just three wins away from passing Lee Eilbracht (518) for the most in program history.
» Drake Westcott went 2-for-3 with four runs, two home runs, three RBI and two walks.
» First-career two-home run game of his collegiate career.
» Career-high four runs scored.
» Has drawn at least one walk in 10 of his last 11 games...has two multi-walk games during that span.
» Has hit safely in 10 his last 11 and in 12 of 15 games overall this season.
» Jacob Schroeder went 2-for-5 with two runs, two home runs and two RBI.
» First multi-HR game of his Illini career and second of his collegiate career...also homered twice on March 23, 2022, for John A. Logan CC
» Has four home runs in eight games, second-most on the team.
» Has posted a 1.299 OPS in 28 at-bats.
» Branden Comia extended his on-base streak to 55 games after going 1-for-5 with two RBI.
» He is just eight games away from matching Cam McDonald's program record of 63 games, which was set last season.
» Has driven in runs in three-straight, including back-to-back multi-RBI games.
» The Illini scored in six of their eight innings.
» There were a total of five scoreless half innings in the game.
» Illinois slugged a season-high matching four home runs.
» Every Illinois starter reached base safely in the win.
» Four Fighting Illini had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» Illinois pitchers faced 45 Southern Illinois hitters in the game, allowing 11 ground balls and seven fly balls while striking out six.
» The Fighting Illini drew five walks from Southern Illinois pitching.
» Illinois has now won its first-three three-game series to open the season.
» The Orange and Blue have won six-straight three-game series, dating back to last season.
» The Illini have not dropped a three-game series since Indiana took two of three from April 29 - May 1.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
