Baseball Falls to Southern Illinois, 7-6, In Extras on Walk-Off Home Run

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Belmont University baseball team fell in extra innings to Southern Illinois on Thursday night, 7-6, in the 11th inning on a walk-off home run at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. 

Belmont (18-13, 5-2 MVC) forced extras with three runs across the eighth and ninth innings, and Ethan Harden (L, 1-1) was dominant in relief, retiring ten of the eleven batters he faced in a row before Matt Sharck sneaked a solo, opposite field home run just over the right field fence to hand Southern Illinois (17-13, 6-1 MVC) the victory. 

The contest marked the second game in the last three that Belmont has gone to extra-innings with an opponent, the only two extra-inning games for Belmont this season. 

Southern Illinois picked up runs in six of the first seven innings to lead, 6-3, going into the eighth. From there, Belmont put together a furious comeback to force extras. 

Blake Barton set the table with a one-out double to left center field. Collecting his third hit of the day, Jack Rando then singled to right field to drive in Barton. Sam Slaughter kept things going with a missile double to the right center gap, scoring Rando all the way from first base and bringing Belmont within a run at 6-5. 

In the ninth inning, Sam Kirkpatrick ripped a one-out single before Jeff Clarke drew a walk. With two men on, Mason Landers provided a clutch, game-tying RBI with a single to center field, scoring Kirkpatrick from second and knotting the score at 6-6. 

Harden kept Saluki batters off balance by striking out the side on just 10 pitches in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to the tenth inning. 

With nothing doing in that frame, things went to the 11th, where Southern Illinois was able to narrowly win with the walk-off home run. 

Rando finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Slaughter tallied a pair of doubles in a 2-for-4 showing and Clarke and Landers also tallied two hits apiece. 

Belmont matched Southern Illinois in hits, 12-12, but the Salukis blasted three home runs to add to their league-leading total. 

Up Next 

Belmont will look to even the series on Friday evening when they return to Itchy Jones Stadium for the second game of the weekend. 

First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. 

The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio play-by-play from Dr. Rich Tiner on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio and live stats available on BelmontBruins.com. 

Follow Belmont baseball on social media - @BelmontBaseball on Twitter and @belmontbaseball on Instagram - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.             

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