NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State trailed Southern Illinois by a run headed to the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday afternoon, but the Redbirds (10-13, 1-2 MVC) rallied for a 6-5 walk-off win over the Salukis (14-13, 2-1 MVC) in the series finale at Duffy Bass Field.
Jordan Libman led off the ninth with a leadoff walk against SIU closer Ryan Netemeyer and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Hutchinson. Libman then scored on a single to center field by Jack Butler to tie the game at 5-5 and John Rave followed with a double off the centerfield wall, scoring Butler from first for the game-winning run.
Redbird reliever Jeff Lindgren (2-2) earned the win in relief, as he allowed just one hit while striking out two batters in 2.1 innings of relief of starter Colton Johnson. Netemeyer allowed two runs on two hits in the ninth for the Salukis, as he was attempting to record his third save in as many games against the Redbirds.
Illinois State jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning. Owen Miller reached on a one-out bloop single to right-centerfield and later stole second to put himself in scoring position. Following a strikeout by Collin Braithwaite, Noah Sadler drew a walk to give the Redbirds a pair or runners on base. Derek Parola then ripped a double down the third base line to plate Miller for the first run of the contest.
The Salukis tied up the game in the top half of the fourth inning on a leadoff home run deep to left field off the bat of Connor Kopach, and threatened to score more but Johnson got out of the jam with an ending-inning double play to keep the game knotted at 1-1. The Salukis then took their first lead of the game in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs on four hits to take a 4-1 advantage midway through the contest. Parola answered and drove in his second run of the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning, plating Braithwaite from third on a  two-out RBI single to centerfield to make the score 4-2 headed to the seventh inning.
SIU pushed across another run in the top half of the seventh to go up 5-2, but ISU answered with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame. Pinch-hitter Nick Zouras started the rally with a single through the right side and he scored on a two-out, two-run homer to deep centerfield off the bat of Rave that cut the Salukis' lead to 5-4 at the time and set up the late-game excitement.Â
Rave finished the day 2-for-5 with a home run, a double and three RBI to lead the way for the Redbirds, while Parola added a pair of hits and two RBI in the victory. ISU returns to action Tuesday against in-state foe Eastern Illinois in Charleston, Illinois, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.Â
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