May 28, 2021

By Tim McCaughan

Indiana State Athletics

CARBONDALE, Ill. – No. 2 Indiana State and No. 4 Southern Illinois went toe-to-toe Friday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium with the Sycamores coming out on top over the Salukis 11-8 to advance in the winners’ bracket of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

Indiana State scored runs in seven of the nine innings, putting the leadoff man on base in seven innings. The Sycamores picked up production throughout the order as every player in the lineup recorded a base hit or an RBI.

Redshirt junior Jordan Schaffer became the third Sycamore in as many games to hit multiple home runs in a single game after connecting on two against the Salukis. The West Terre Haute, Ind., native, took the first pitch of the game from Ben Chapman and put it over the wall in left field for his fifth home run of the season before hitting his second home run in the fifth to tie the game at four.

The Salukis answered back in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run from Nick Neville to take a 2-1 lead -- one of two home runs in the game for the shortstop.

Sean Ross went on to drive in the tying run from second with a single to left -- his third hit in five plate appearances during the tournament -- before Max Wright (Toronto, Ont.) belted his 15th home run of the season out to centre in the third inning of action.

Ross drove in the go-ahead run for the Sycamores in the sixth inning -- finishing the game with two hits and a pair of RBIs.

Right-hander Will Buraconak helped the Sycamores out of a jam in the fifth after the Salukis loaded the bases with one out. Buraconak would pick up a strikeout and get a fly ball to center to hold SIU to just one run.

Brian Fuentes extended the ISU lead to 8-5 in the seventh with a two-RBI single to left to score Aaron Beck and Ellison Hanna II. The Sycamores went on to put up their third crooked number of the game in the ninth, scoring three insurance runs that would come into play. With the bases loaded Wright was hit-by-pitch to bring in the first run before Miguel Rivera singled in a run. Beck capped off the scoring run with a sacrifice fly.

All three runs were important as the Salukis picked up a two-run home run from JT Weber in the bottom of the ninth before the call to the bullpen for Tyler Grauer. The southpaw would strike out the only two batters he faced to secure his 20th career save -- moving into a tie for second place all-time in program history.

Zach Frey made the start for the Sycamores and tossed 3 1/3 innings, striking out here and allowing three runs, Buraconak (1-1) earned the victory for the Sycamores after pitching one inning. Sycamore reliever Connor Fenlong threw 44 pitches over three innings and powered through 14 batters, striking out four.

Tanner Lewis took the loss for SIU, falling to 4-2 after allowing three runs in relief. Ben Chapman went four innings in the start, striking out seven, walking one and allowing three runs on three hits.

Weber led the Salukis with three hits while Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) and Neville had two hits each. Peters also had two RBIs for the Salukis.

UP NEXT

The Sycamores will continue to play in the winners’ bracket as the team is set to face top-seed Dallas Baptist Saturday at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN Plus.