Pinch-hitter Lance McMillan singled home Scott Legan in the top of the 10th inning of the second game to help lead the Illinois State baseball team past Southern Illinois, 5-4 and 6-5, in a doubleheader at Abe Martin Field.
Jon Peacock, who committed a two-out, bases-loaded error that allowed the tying run to score in the bottom of the ninth, led off the 10th with a single before leaving for pinch-runner Legan.
"Redemption is a great thing," Peacock said. "Fortunately, I had the opportunity to atone for my miscue less than five minutes after I booted the ball.
"It was a great feeling to be able to come through in that situation."
The situation was huge, according to ISU coach Jeff Stewart, whose team beat SIU 5-4 on Friday.
"If you don't win that second game and they come back and beat you, you've lost all of your momentum and you're back on the road again, tired from the trip and you start to second guess yourself," Stewart said.
In the opener, the Redbirds (16-15 overall, 8-7 in the Valley) took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never gave it up.
Jared Dufault drove in two of the runs with a double, and Mike Saunches added another RBI double. Saunches gave ISU a 4-1 lead when he launched a solo homer in the third.
Saunches finished the game with three RBI to help make a winner of pitcher Steve Hecker (5-3), who allowed just one earned run on six hits. Reliever Dave Schoeberlein earned his second save by striking out the side in the seventh.
In the second game, the Redbirds went up 4-0 before the Salukis came back to score twice in the fourth. ISU scored another run in the top of the ninth on Dufault's RBI single, but SIU (13-23, 7-12) notched three runs in the bottom half of the inning to send the game into extra innings.
Dufault ended the game with two hits and two RBI.
Schoeberlein (2-1), the fourth pitcher of the game, earned the win this time despite allowing two runs (one earned). Ryan Cantrell pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his first save.
