CARBONDALE, Ill. – Missouri State rallied from a 5-1 ninth-inning deficit to force extra innings Saturday and Mason Hull led off the 12th with the game-winning home run to seal a 6-5 win at Southern Illinois and clinch the Bears’ seventh consecutive series victory.
The Bears (31-17, 18-5 MVC) secured a top-two finish in the league standings and sit two games behind first-place Indiana State with four to play. MSU hosts the Sycamores at Hammons Field May 18-20 to close out the regular season.
The Bears scored on an error in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead, and a two-run homer by the Salukis (28-23, 13-10) in the bottom half was the only blip on Hayden Minton’s radar as the Bears’ righty retired the last 10 SIU hitters he faced in seven innings of work, allowing the two runs on six hits with a walk and eight strikeouts to take over the MVC lead with 84 Ks on the season.
SIU pushed its lead to 5-1 with two doubles and two singles in the eighth, and the Bears loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth to set up the game-tying rally.
Cody Kelly brought home two runs with a single, and Will Duff and Carter Bergman each knocked two-out RBI singles for the 5-5 tie.
Freshman Garrett Ferguson (3-1) took care of it on the mound after that, firing a career-high four shutout innings while allowing just two runners.
Hull then led off the 12th by launching his ninth homer of the season and 30th of his career over the left field wall for the 6-5 final in a game in which the Bears stranded 20 runners on base.
The Bears go for the series sweep at Itchy Jones Stadium at 12 p.m. Sunday.
