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Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Ben Gullo pitched a gem, but Eastern Kentucky couldn’t hold off Southern Illinois in a 10-inning 4-3 loss on Friday.

Gullo pitched nine-plus innings, allowed just two earned runs on four hits.  He walked two and struck out four batters.  The sophomore had a stretch in which he retired 15 of 17 batters and faced the minimum number of batters in the fourth through eighth innings.  Before allowing an earned in the ninth, Gullo had allowed only one earned run over his previous 17 innings.

After Southern Illinois (11-14) tied it in the bottom of the ninth, a lead-off double by Austin Grisham in the 10th got the Colonels off to a good start.  Doug Teegarden followed with a single to put runners at the corners.  A fielder’s choice retired Grisham, but EKU still had runners at first and second.  A bloop single into right field by Demetrius Moorer was enough to score Teegarden and put Eastern back on top 3-2.

Gullo walked the lead-off batter in the bottom of the 10th before leaving the game.  After a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second, Wes Neece drove the ball over Grisham’s head in center to plate the tying run.  Ryan Rosthenhausler followed with a game-winning single up the middle to score Neece from second.

Seven different Colonels (5-17) recorded one hit each.  Rosthenhausler went 3-for-4 for SIU.

Southern Illinois took advantage of an EKU error to score the game’s first run with two outs in the bottom of the second inning.

Kenny Hostrander led off the third with a single for the Colonels.  Matt Phipps appeared to be looking to sacrifice Hostrander to second with a bunt, but on his third attempt he brought the bat back and smacked a double over the left fielder’s head.  After the next batter was retired, John Wilson’s single to left center drove in both runners and put the visitors on top 2-1.

After Wilson’s hit, SIU starter Cody Forsythe retired the next 17 batters.  Eastern didn’t get its next hit until Southern Illinois went to the pen in the ninth.  Forsythe allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings of work.  He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.

The Salukis finally got to Gullo in the ninth.  After a lead-off walk, Rennie Troggio’s used a sacrifice bunt to get the runner into scoring position.  Matt Jones hit the first pitch he saw into the gap in left center to score the tying run and send the game to extra innings.

Lee Weld (2-1) earned the win after pitching the final three innings in relief.  He allowed one run on four hits, walked one and struck out two.  Eric Nerl (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up one run on two hits.

The Colonels and Salukis will conclude their three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.