SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Southern Illinois baseball wrapped its regular season by defeating Missouri State 18-11 in the series finale Saturday, May 18, in Springfield, Mo.

The Salukis (31-25) jumped out early with four runs in the first and second frames and would never look back.

Southern set season-highs in runs (18), doubles (nine), RBIs (17), total bases (31) and tied the season-high in hits (20).

Seven of the nine doubles were run-scoring and accounted for 10 of the 18 runs.

Cole Christman, Bennett Eltoft, Steven Loden, Trey Cutchen, and Jordan Bach each tallied RBI doubles, Eltoft and Cutchen both had two.

With a 14-2 lead in the fifth, Missouri State (23-32) scored five unanswered runs in innings five and six to make things interesting late.

Cutchen and Hesston Gray all but sealed the deal in the seventh. Cutchen’s second RBI double of the day put SIU up by eight, and Gray followed him up with a two-run home run, the only home run of the weekend for Southern.

Al Holguin took the ball for the Salukis in his 12th start of the season. He pitched three full innings, allowed two runs on three hits, struck out three and walked four.

Jake Combs earned his third victory of the season after coming in relief of Holguin in the fourth.

Carter Bergmann went 3-for-3 at the plate for Missouri State, with a home run and four RBIs.

Jason Schaaf started and took the loss. He only recorded one out in the first inning and allowed four earned runs.

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The Salukis earned the sixth seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and will play Belmont on Tuesday, May 21. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.