CARBONDALE, Ill. – Grant Magill homered for the second time in as many games and Luke Hayden pitched into the eighth inning as Indiana State secured the Missouri Valley series win on Sunday afternoon with a 7-2 victory at Southern Illinois.
 
Magill provided the early fireworks for the Sycamore (31-9, 14-4) offense with a two-run shot in the top of the second inning as the redshirt senior catcher drove the ball over the left field wall near the ESPNU production trailer. Luis Hernandez added a home run in the top of the seventh inning to cap a four-run rally late as Indiana State bounced back from the Friday loss to take the final two games of the series at Itchy Jones Stadium.
 
Hayden (6-1) bounced back from surrendering a Cole Christman two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning in a career-long outing. The junior right-hander retired the first batter in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap a 7.1-inning appearance allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out six in the quality start.
 
The Sycamores struck early against SIU (25-19, 9-9) starter Aidan Foeller (3-2), before Foeller turned the game into a pitcher's duel over the middle frames of the contest. Foeller retired 10 consecutive Sycamores after surrendering a Luis Hernandez RBI single in the top of the third inning, before running into trouble in the top of the seventh.
 
Josue Urdaneta drew a two-out walk and Randal Diaz followed with a single up the middle to put two on with Dominic Listi at the plate. The Sycamore left fielder fell behind 0-2 to Foeller, before connecting on a two-run double to left center giving ISU a 5-2 lead. Hernandez greeted SIU reliever Shane Wilhelm with a two-run home run over the wall in left center scoring Listi to provide a 7-2 advantage heading into the stretch.
 
Hayden turned the ball over to Cam Edmonson with one out in the bottom of the eighth and the Valley's ERA leader retired the first three batters he faced before running into trouble in the bottom of the ninth. SIU loaded the bases with a trio of singles before Edmonson was able to force the game-ending double play to close out the contest.
 
Diaz and Hernandez had two hits apiece as the Sycamores were limited to six hits overall in the contest. Listi doubled, and Hernandez and Magill both homered in the win.
 
Christman, Trey Cutchen, and Justin Keuss all had two hits apiece for SIU as the Salukis connected on 10 hits in the contest. Jordan Bach and Cutchen both doubled in the loss.
 
Foeller took the loss going 6.2 innings allowing five hits and six runs while walking four and striking out 12. Wilhelm went the final 2.1 innings for SIU.
 
How They Scored

• Grant Magill connected on a two-run home run over the left field wall driving in Parker Stinson in the top of the second inning to stake Indiana State to the early 2-0 lead.
• Luis Hernandez connected on an RBI single through the left side in the top of the third inning scoring Randal Diaz to make it 3-0 Sycamores.
• Cole Christman drove a two-run home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the third scoring Jordan Bach to cut the Indiana State lead down to 3-2.
• The Sycamores broke the game open in the seventh as Dominic Listi connected on a two-run double to left center scoring Diaz and Josue Urdaneta, before Hernandez homered bringing home Listi to cap the four-run frame and provide the final 7-2 margin. 

News & Notes

• Indiana State moves to 40-7-1 in Missouri Valley play dating back to the end of the 2022 season following Sunday's win over the Salukis.
• The Sycamores are 15-0-1 in series finale game over the 16-conference series following Sunday's win.
• The Sycamores continue their longest MVC series winning streak in program history with the previous long of six dating back to the 2012 season.
• Luke Hayden posted his second consecutive quality start on Sunday afternoon in helping the Sycamores secure the series win. His 7.1-inning performance surpassed his previous career-long outing of 7.0-innings set last weekend in the complete-game effort against Illinois State.
• Edmonson went 3.2 innings of scoreless relief over two appearances on the weekend lowering his ERA in conference play to 0.96.
• The Sycamore pitching staff features four members among the top eight in the Valley in ERA in conference-only competition with Edmonson (0.96, 1st), Brennyn Cutts (1.35, 3rd), Luke Hayden (2.91, 7th), and Jared Spencer (2.95, 8th) all among the conference leaders.
• Grant Magill homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his collegiate career and has gone deep in three of his last four contests dating back to April 21 against Illinois State.
• Magill became the sixth Sycamore to connect on five or more home runs in the 2024 season joining Mike Sears (15), Luis Hernandez (12), Parker Stinson (10), Randal Diaz (10), and Adam Pottinger (6).
• Josue Urdaneta extended his on-base streak to 29 consecutive games over the three-game weekend series. Urdaneta reached base safely in all three contests and scored in both Saturday and Sunday's wins.
• Luke Hayden took over the team strikeout lead on Sunday afternoon as the Sycamore right-hander fanned six Salukis to raise his number to 65 on the year passing Brennyn Cutts (60).

Up Next
Indiana State closes out the seven-game road trip on Tuesday evening as the Sycamores travel to Champaign, Ill. to take on Big Ten co-leader Illinois in midweek play. First pitch at Illinois Field is set for 7 p.m. ET with the game to be carried live on B1G+ and 105.5 The Legend.
 
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