Arkansas State baseball (13-9, 1-2 SBC) took advantage of seven errors by Southern Illinois (13-7, 0-0 MVC) en route to a 10-5 victory on Tuesday evening at Tomlinson Stadium.
Kole Turner made his second career start, surrendering three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks while striking out four more over 3.2 innings pitched. Five batters had two hits during the contest, but Daedrick Cail led all hitters with two RBIs along with a home run.
With two outs on the board, A-State took advantage of two miscues by the Salukis. Burris scored on a throwing error by the pitcher before Allen Grier landed a blooper in right field for an RBI-single.
A wild pitch allowed Grier to cross the plate and cap off a three-run first inning that put the Red Wolves up 3-0.
Southern Illinois had the bases loaded following a double from Jake Allgeyer and a pair of walks. Allgeyer scored following another walk from Turner, but the righty was able to escape the jam with a strikeout and groundout to keep the lead at two runs.
Brayden Caskey brought Brandon Hager in from second base with a single down the left-field line during the third. However, the Salukis responded in the next frame with an RBI-single from Nathan Bandy, who would later score on a passed ball to make the score 4-3.
The Scarlet and Black put together a four-run fourth inning beginning with Nyan Hayes scoring on a wild pitch. Austen Jaslove recorded an RBI-single to left field before Cail sent a two-run shot over the left-field wall to extend the lead to five.
Hesston Gray scored on a sacrifice fly from Trey Cutchen in the top of the fifth to make it 8-4 in favor of A-State. The Salukis cut the deficit to three runs in the next inning after Allgeyer singled up the middle.
A-State extended the lead back to four following a sacrifice fly from Wil French, putting the Red Wolves ahead by a score of 9-5 going into the eighth. One inning later, Jayden Hill scored on the seventh error by Southern Illinois and gave the Scarlet and Black a five run advantage going into the final frame.
The Salukis were retired in order during the final frame to close out the victory. Blaine Harpenau (1-0) earned the win while Alec Nigut (3-1) took the loss as A-State snaps a two-game losing skid.
NEXT UP
Arkansas State begins a five-game road trip on Wednesday, March 20 with the backend of a home-and-home with Southern Illinois. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+
