CARBONDALE, Ill- Western Illinois Baseball couldn't overcome a strong offensive showing from Southern Illinois, falling 6-3 on a windy evening at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Leathernecks (5-12) found their rhythm in the middle innings, but SIU (13-6) built an early lead and never looked back.
Southern Illinois took the lead in the third inning, plating three runs and adding another in the fourth to jump ahead 4-0. Western Illinois struggled to generate offense early, failing to score in the first four frames. WIU finally broke through in the fifth inning when Brock Lummus led off the inning with a walk. Trevor Leon would then double and Lummus would later score on an RBI hit from Liam Bushey. They built momentum in the sixth, cutting the deficit to 4-3 thanks to a two-run home run by Brock Lummus. Lummus finished the night 3-3 at the dish with two RBI and a walk to lead the way offensively.
On the mound, starter Jorge Romero delivered a strong outing, tossing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. The Leathernecks used nine different pitchers throughout the game, but they couldn't keep SIU's bats quiet. Despite showing fight in the later innings, WIU came up just short.
The Leathernecks will return home to open up conference play against Southern Indiana with first pitch on Friday scheduled for 2 p.m.
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