CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Southern Illinois twice could not hold onto the lead in an 11-7 loss to Illinois Tuesday evening at Illinois Field. That finished Illinois’ (27-13) four-game season series sweep of the Salukis (20-24). On a night with the wind blowing out steadilytowards left field, 11 of the game’s 18 runs were scored on home runs.
Austin Montgomery drove in four of SIU’s seven runs.
“We battled hard all night and gave ourselves a chance late in the game,” SIU Coach Ken Henderson said, “but we just didn’t execute a couple times.”
Illinois’ Thomas Lindauer broke a 7-7 tie with an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lindauer then scored on Michael Hurwitz’ single to give the Illini a 9-7 advantage. After Justin Parr singled, Jordan Parr and Brandon Hohl hit consecutive doubles to tack on two more runs. Jordan Parr drove in seven of Illinois’ runs in the game.
SIU’s Matt Jones had tied the game at 7-7 in the top of the seventh with his third home run of the season, a line drive solo shot over the left field wall. It was the Salukis’ third home run of the game.
Matt Murphy took the loss for SIU. He allowed four runs in two and two-thirds of an inning. He had tossed two scoreless innings and retired six batters in a row before running into trouble in the eighth. With another midweek game looming on Wednesday, Southern stuck with Murphy for the five straight hits in the four-run eighth inning.
“Murphy’s thrown a lot lately, and he’s pitched well for us,” Henderson said. “He left some balls up in the zone, and they capitalized.”
Southern Illinois jumped on the board in the first inning when Austin Montgomery hit a two-out, two-run homer.
“He made a mistake and left it over the plate, and I got a piece of it,” Montgomery said. “It was a pretty good park for hitters today, and it was good to get a start like that.”
Following a dropped infield popup, Cody Daily followed with a two-run shot of his own to extend the lead to 4-0.
After the Illini tied the game with four runs in the bottom of the third, Montgomery gave SIU a 6-4 lead in the top of the fifth with a two-run triple off the wall in center field. Montgomery drove in four of SIU’s seven runs and finished a double short of the cycle.
Illinois took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth with Jordan Parr’s second three-run home run of the game. He had also tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the third inning with a three-run home run. It came one batter after his brother extended the inning and drove in a run by beating out a potential double play with the bases loaded.
SIU starter Brad Drust allowed a season-high seven runs off 10 hits in five innings of work and took a no-decision. Six of the runs against him were on Jordan Parr’s two three-run homers.
The loss for Southern Illinois breaks an eight-game nonconference winning streak. The Salukis will be back home on Wednesday to face Belmont at 3 p.m. at Abe Martin Field
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