CARBONDALE, Ill. (3/20/24) – Playing at home proved to be the difference in the midweek series between Arkansas State baseball (13-10, 0-0 SBC) and Southern Illinois (14-7, 0-0 MVC), as the Salukis claimed a 9-3 victory on Wednesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium.
 
Michael Finan made his second career start, surrendering three earned runs on two hits and three walks over 0.1 innings pitched. As a team, the Scarlet and Black had four combined hits with Cason Tollett's two-run homer being the highlight.
 
The Red Wolves jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first following the two-run blast from Tollett. Southern Illinois loaded the bases with no outs in the following frame, scoring two on walks and one more on a sacrifice fly from Steven Loden.
 
The Salukis loaded the bases again in the second and would capitalize on the opportunity with a grand slam from Cole Christman that put the Scarlet and Black behind 7-2.
 
Cason Campbell snapped a three-inning scoreless stretch for A-State after doubling down the left field line. Trey Cutchen led the Salukis' response with an RBI-double to left field in the next frame, extending the deficit back to five runs after five innings of play.
 
Anthony Kodama crossed the plate on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 9-3 in favor of Southern Illinois.
 
Neither side would score from there as SIU went on to split the home-and-home series. Jake Combs (1-1) earned the win while Finan took the loss as A-State drops the first of a five-game road trip.

NEXT UP
Arkansas State will make the trip to Huntington, West Virginia for a weekend series with Marshall. First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m. (CT) on ESPN+ and can be heard on 95.3/96.9 The Ticket Radio Network along with the A-State Red Wolves mobile app.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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