FINAL STATS
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Austin Montgomery had two hits and scored on a Gamecock throwing error in the bottom of the ninth inning as Southern Illinois claimed a 3-2 win over Jacksonville State in the opening game of a three-game series on Friday.
Todd Eaton (1-0) picked up the win after recording a pair of strikeouts in the ninth inning, while
Hunter Rivers (0-1) suffered the loss for the Gamecocks.
Southern Illinois took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning after Jake Welch and Danny Duschinsky each led off with back-to-back singles. Chris Serritella followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Welch to give the Saluakis the early lead.
Jax State battled back to tie the game in the seventh inning after
Andrew Bishop reached on a two-out walk and then scored after
Cal Lambert doubled to right field to score Bishop and tie the game at 1-1.
SIU answered in the eighth inning after Harding was walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and tagged up on a deep ball to center to move to third. Welch then had a RBI infield single to give the Salakuis a 2-1 lead.
The Gamecocks tied the game in the ninth inning after
Adam Miller reached on a one-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. SIU closer Todd Eaton then struck out
Jay Davis for the second out and then struck out
Andrew Bishop. However, the third strike was dropped by SIU catcher Brian Bajer, who threw the ball past first base down the right field line to allow Miller to score to make the score 2-2.
The Salukais took advantage of a Gamecock error in the home half of the ninth inning after Montgomery reached on a one-out double. Nick Johnson then hit a grounder to third, which was thrown away by the Gamecocks to allow Montgomery to score from second for the final margin.
Coty Blanchard,
Erik Underwood,
Kyle Bluestein, Eberle and Lambert each had a hit for the Gamecocks.
With the threat of rain on Sunday, the two teams will now play two nine-inning games on Saturday, with the first game scheduled for 11 a.m.
