SIU baseball picked up its third win in four games Tuesday night in a 6-2 win against Southeast Missouri State.

The Salukis (10-31, 5-7) struck first, chasing SEMO (25-15, 16-5 Ohio Valley Conference) starter Garrett Stockton out of the game after 2/3 of an inning.

They took advantage of 3 walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch to score 3 runs. One of SIU’s 2 hits in the inning was a 2-run single by freshman designated hitter Logan Blackfan.

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The Redhawks picked up 2 unearned runs in the top of the second after senior right fielder Tyler Rolland dropped a fly ball to put runners at second and third with nobody out. A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch allowed SEMO to come within a run of the Salukis.

SIU picked up an insurance run in the fouth on an RBI single by sophomore second baseman Will Farmer.

Two runs in the seventh, highlighted by a Blackfan RBI double, padded the Saluki lead.

Freshman reliever Colin Holderman (1-0) provided five innings of scoreless relief in a career performance Tuesday. 

The outing was the longest of Holderman’s career. He entered the game in the fifth with the mentality that the game was his.

“When I went in,” Holderman said, “I said, ‘I want to finish this.'”

Holderman breezed through the next 4 innings, but ran into trouble in the ninth.

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Junior first baseman Ryan Rippee collected the Redhawks’ only extra-base hit, a leadoff double in the ninth inning. Junior catcher Scott Mitchell followed with a walk.

Saluki coach Ken Henderson said Holderman was on thin ice at that point.

“If the next guy had gotten on, we would have taken him out,” Henderson said. “But he was throwing strikes.”

Holderman got the next three batters out. Freshman shortstop Chase Slone ranged far to his left to make the play on a ground ball destined for center field and stepped on second for the game’s final out.

Tuesday marked the fifth time all season SEMO was held to fewer than 3 runs.

Stockton (1-2) suffered the loss.

Blackfan ended the night 3-for-4 with a game and career-high 3 RBIs. Tuesday was Blackfan’s first career 3-hit game.

SIU returns to action at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday at Itchy Jones Stadium when it hosts UT-Martin.

Thomas Donley can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3311 ext. 269.