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May 17, 2007 INDIANA STATE SURVIVES SIU RALLY, DOWNS SALUKIS IN 11th TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Maybe a new streak is starting for the Indiana State baseball program. One week after winning its first Missouri Valley Conference series opener, the Sycamores made it two in a row to open a three-game set with a thrilling 6-5, extra inning victory over Southern Illinois tonight (May 17) at Sycamore Field. ISU improves to 26-24, 7-15 MVC while the Salukis fell to 32-20, 11-11 MVC. Indiana State got off a 12-game slide of dropping its MVC series opening games with a 4-3 victory over Missouri State last week. The Sycamores made it two series openers in a row with a 6-5, extra inning victory over Southern Illinois tonight. ISU threatened to take the game in the 10th, after having earlier surrendered a 5-3 lead against the Salukis. With the bases full and just one out senior Marcus Artner and the rest of his teammates thought the left-handed batter had won the game with a screaming line drive shot down the first base line. Unfortunately, SIU first baseman Tyler Choate was right there to snag the ball and step on first for an inning ending double play. Fast forward to the bottom of the 11th. Ryan Strausborger singled with one out and then moved over to second a wild pitch from SIU hurler Bryant George. Senior Josh Abercrombie stroked sweet revenge for his fellow senior, Artner, with a deep double to right center which easily scored Strausborger for the 6-5, walk-off victory. Senior Adam Lindsay pitched the final four innings of the game for the win to move his record to 4-5 on the season. He allowed three hits and just one run while striking out four as he earned the pitching victory for the second consecutive game. George took the loss to fall to 3-1 on the season. Junior Chad Dawson tossed the first four innings of the game, allowing seven hits and a run while walking five in the no-decision. Freshman Skyler Pearson worked the middle three innings, allowing a pair of hits and runs. The victory not only was ISU’s second consecutive opening night MVC series victory, but was also the first walk-off win of the year. ISU improved to 5-1 on the season in extra innings, with tonight’s victory being the first to come at Sycamore Field. SIU scored a run against Dawson in the top half of the first to bolt out to a quick 1-0 lead, but the Sycamores got to SIU starter Shawn Joy in the second and third frames to take a 4-1 advantage. Ryan Bond stroked a one-out triple (his third of the season) and then scored on Brett Siegmund’s ground out in the second to knot the score at one run each. In the third, the Sycamores plated three more. Strausborger reached on an error and Abercrombie followed that with a solid hit to put runners at first and second with no outs. Chris Schmidt drove home his 26th run of the season to stake ISU to a 2-1 lead. Dave Brumagin followed that up with a single to score Abercrombie as the Sycamore advantage grew to 3-1. ISU then led 4-1 on a single by Bond up the middle which scored Schmidt. SIU’s Adam Hills made it 4-2 with a home run in the top of the fifth against Dawson. After Southern Illinois got to within 4-3 in the top of the sixth, the Sycamores made it 5-3 on a Strausborger RBI single up the middle which plated junior Sean Osborne, who earlier had posted his first double of the season. SIU scored one run each in the eighth and ninth to even the score at five and send the game into extra innings. Abercrombie’s double in the bottom of the 11th won the game for the Sycamores. Indiana State and Southern Illinois continue their three-game MVC series on Friday evening at Sycamore Field. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. (ET).
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