The Salukis were not hitting. Even when they got hits, they could not put them together to score runs.

But then senior third baseman Matt Dettman stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and only one out with SIUC trailing 5-1 in the top of the eighth.

And like a page straight from a fairly tale, Dettman cracked one over the wall a grand slam. With one swing of the bat, Dettman tied the game with the University of Northern Iowa 5-5 Sunday on his second homer of the day.

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The Salukis went on to win the game 6-5 in 10 innings. Sophomore pitcher Jim Pecoraro got the win for the Salukis.

Baseball head coach Dan Callahan said he was impressed with the way the team never gave up and came back to win the game.

I really questioned our emotion coming into this game, Callahan said. We were playing badly, and we didn’t get timely hits. (It was a) lack of aggression. But we didn’t quit. It is good sign of this ball club. I feel pretty good about the character of this team.

The Salukis end up splitting the four-game series with UNI and now have a Missouri Valley Conference record of 6-2 and a record of 11-15 overall.

The Salukis scored 21 runs in the four-game series and 18 of those runs came from the long ball. The Salukis hit 10 homers in the series.

With the loss, Northern Iowa moves to 2-6 in the MVC and 11-13 overall.

The Panthers had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth when they had a runner at first with one out. Pecoraro fielded a ground ball hit toward the mound, and he threw the ball into center field, giving the Panthers a first and third situation with one out and the game tied.

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But the Panthers hit into a double play, setting up the Salukis’ one run 10th.

His make-up on the mound is outstanding, Callahan said. He’s got composure. You don’t see a lot of college kids with that kind of composure. That’s why it was very uncharacteristic of him to throw that ball away. He’s very good fielding pitcher. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t beat himself.

He almost beat himself on that one play because he got a little careless. He dropped his arm and the ball ran on him, and he ends up throwing the ball into center field. But he had enough presence to come back and get a ground ball when we needed it. And he did a good job of getting out of it.

The Salukis avoided a three-game losing streak with the come-from-behind win. The Panthers swept the double header Saturday after the Salukis won the opener of the series Friday 9-5.

The Salukis jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning of the game Friday.

But in the bottom of the fifth Saluki hurler Dave Piazza was torched for an Aaron Houdeshell three-run homer, his first career roundtripper. Houdeshell also homered Sunday. His only home runs of his career have come at the Salukis’ expense.

But both his homers came in a losing effort. The Salukis regained the lead Friday in the top of the sixth with a two-run Carl Kochan homer to left field.

Sophomore infielder Steve Ruggeri followed Kochan with a solo shot to put the Salukis on top 4-3.

The Salukis added two more runs in the seventh inning and three in the ninth and hung on for the win. Junior righthander Dave Piazza got the win and threw the first complete game of the season for the Salukis.

But Saturday, the Salukis were less than sharp. They jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in first inning of the first game of the doubleheader.

The Panthers tied it in the second and added three more in the third and three in the fourth.

Junior pitcher Jason Frasor left the game after three full innings and struggled most of the time he was on the mound. He had base runners aboard in every inning he pitched.

The Salukis rallied in the seventh with Kochan hitting a three-run homer to right but fell short 7-5.

In game two of the doubleheader, the Salukis got a solid pitching performance from senior righthander Chris Schullian, who only gave up two runs while striking out 12 and walking none in eight innings.

But the Salukis struggled offensively and could only muster one run on four hits. The Salukis had the tying run at second with only one out in the ninth inning but failed to bring him home and lost 2-1.

Callahan said UNI’s pitching and fielding is as good as any the Salukis have faced all year, and the Salukis are fortunate to have come from behind to win the final game after losing the doubleheader Saturday.

Northern Iowa, despite the fact that they lost four games last weekend at Indiana State, is a decent ball club, Callahan said. I know they’ve lost some guys from last year’s ball club, but that still gives you a little bit of momentum going into another Valley series. Northern Iowa is a better ball club than a 2-6 ball club, and they are going to beat some people.