CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois baseball wrapped up a five-game homestand with a 12-11, 12-inning walk-off victory over Western Illinois Wednesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium.
Trey Cutchen played hero for the Salukis with a single off the wall in right field to bring in the game-winning run and end the 4:30-minute marathon.
Southern (21-16) would have to battle back to earn the win after giving up eight runs in the first inning, including back-to-back home runs to the Leathernecks to start the game.
Trailing 11-1 in the fourth inning the Salukis would put together six runs on five base hits with Cole Christman putting his mark on the inning with a two-run home run – his eighth home run of the season.
The Salukis would get another run in the sixth before tying the game in the seventh with three runs. Christman would once again come up big with a two-run double before Jake Allgeyer tied the game after scoring from third on a wild pitch.
Seven Salukis recorded multiple hits in the game as SIU put up a season-high 20 hits in the game. Christman was 5-for-7 with four RBI while Nathan Bandy had three hits.
The Leathernecks (7-25) tallied 18 hits in the game led by their leadoff man Laim Bushy with a 5-for-7 day at the plate, including two home runs and five RBI.
SIU used nine pitchers with Easton Dermody earning the win after three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He struck out four and allowed three hits to move to 3-1.
Eric Cunning took the loss for WIU to fall to 0-1 on the year. The right-hander pitched 2.1 innings and allowed three hits and one run.
UP NEXT
The Salukis head to Nashville for a three-game series with Belmont starting Friday at 4 p.m. All three games of the series will air on ESPN Plus.
