A southern Illinois native stalled the Dawgs chances to make it to the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Wednesday.

The eighth-seeded Salukis fell to the fifth-seeded Illinois State University Redbirds (32-21, 10-11) 6-1 to put them one loss away from heading back to Carbondale early.

ISU’s sophomore left-handed pitcher Dylan Craig was born in Carbondale and went to Murphysboro High School. Craig was perfect through the four innings before senior designated hitter Cody Daily hit a double to center field.

“Whenever we play against SIU in the regular season, that’s the biggest game I’m pumped up for,” Craig said. “To be able to pitch against them in the conference tournament was very exciting for me. I guess it’s a rivalry thing just because I live there.”

SIU senior right-hander Todd Eaton allowed three homes runs to the Redbirds, which led to his third loss of the season.

The game had a weather delay before the ninth inning, which lasted more than two hours, but it didn’t help the Salukis gain momentum.

“I don’t think we played poorly at all,” coach Ken Henderson said. “Illinois State just played well. They were the better team today.”

The Salukis will play the fourth-seeded Wichita State University Shockers tomorrow at 8:07 a.m. The Shockers upset the top-seed University of Evansville Purple Aces Wednesday to knock the regular season champion out of the tournament. The winner of that game will play the Redbirds at 4:07 p.m. tomorrow.

Henderson said he has watched both of the Shockers games this week.

“We’ll get a good night’s rest,” Henderson said. “We’ll get up early and we’ll try to go out and find a way to win that game.”

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE on Twitter or (815)-483-3781.