TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State baseball dropped the opener of its doubleheader with Southern Illinois, 11-4, Saturday afternoon at Bob Warn Field.
 
The Salukis (34-14, 11-11 MVC) put up crooked numbers in three innings including three runs in the first and five runs in the second. Cody Cleveland led SIU with three base hits, including a pair of home runs to go with three RBI. Nick Neville added three hits and two RBIs.
 
After SIU tallied three runs on four hits in the first, Max Wright tallied his 11^th home run of the season in the bottom of the inning to put Indiana State on the board. Southern answered Wright's home run with a five-spot in the bottom half of the inning on six hits.
 
The outburst was enough for ISU (25-13, 12-6 MVC) to make the call to the bullpen twice. The Salukis tagged ISU starting pitcher Tyler Grauer (2-2) for six hits and five earned runs while tallying three earned runs on three hits on reliever Ross Kramer before Matt Jachec entered to finish the second.
 
Jachec went the final six innings for the Sycamores. The right-hander allowed six hits and three earned runs while striking out four to preserve the bullpen for the remainder of the series.
 
Brian Fuentes collected his fourth home run of the season in the second inning, but the Sycamores were not able to rally back from a six-run deficit.
 
Ben Chapman went 4.1 innings for the Salukis to improve to 7-4 on the season. He struck out six and allowed seven hits and four earned runs. Tanner Lewis finished off the game for Southern after pitching the final 2.2 innings.
 
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