Life in the Valley

SIU Scores 9 Runs in Final 2 Innings in 12-2 Run-Rule Romp

For 6 innings, Tuesday’s second game at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball championship in Evansville was just what you’d think a postgame experience would be. A tight, low-scoring game that saw 6th-seed Southern Illinois just barely ahead of 7-seed Belmont, 3-2.

Two innings later, the game was over.

Trey Cutchen hit a 2-run homer in the 7th inning and then Mathieu Vallee and Hesston Gray both homered as part of a 6-run 8th inning, with Gray’s serving as the walk-off blow in SIU’s 12-2, run-rule, 8-inning win. It was Gray’s 3rd hit of the game.

Jordan Bach also brought in 2 runs in the 8th with a triple, then scored on Cutchen’s sac fly. Bennett Eltoft, who was hit twice, added a double to score Jake Allgeyer. Cutchen (4 RBIs) also had an RBI double in the 5th, giving SIU their 3-2 lead.

Moments before, Belmont (29-31) had broken the ice on a scoreless game in a big way in the top of the 5th, as Jack Rando and Brodey Heaton hit solo homers to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. But those turned out to the lone offensive highlights for the Bruins, who will play for their season at 12:30 p.m. Central on Wednesday against 8-seed Missouri State, which lost 9-8 to UIC on Tuesday.

Belmont finished with just 7 hits and struck out 11 times, 10 of those thanks to the arm of SIU ace Aidan Foeller, who broke the century mark in strikeouts for the season. Foeller, the conference leader, is now at 101.

By contrast, the Salukis walked 5 times and struck out just once.

Southern Illinois advances to the winner’s bracket where it will take on top-seed Indiana State at 4 p.m. in the 3rd game on Wednesday’s slate. SIU won the opening game of its series vs. Indiana State in Carbondale on April 26, but the Sycamores came back to take the final two games and the series.