CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Senior first baseman Jason Newburger completed a red-hot series by going 3-for-3 with a home run, a double, a walk and three runs scored, leading Bradley (11-12, 4-2) to a 9-7 Missouri Valley Conference baseball win Sunday afternoon at Southern Illinois (18-12, 3-3).

Newburger entered the weekend series versus the Salukis batting .226 (12-53) on the season with eight runs batted in and one career home run.  During the 3-game weekend set at SIU, Newburger was 8-for-11 (.727) with two home runs, two doubles and nine runs batted in.  After his first career grand slam ignited Friday's 9-6 victory, Newburger hit a solo homer in the third inning Sunday to pull the Braves within 2-1, then laced an RBI double in the fifth to pull even at 2-2 and set off a 3-run outburst that put the Braves ahead for good.

Freshman Collin Brennan, who earned his first career save Friday, held on for the win Sunday by scattering 10 hits over 8.0 innings.  He allowed all seven Saluki runs, six earned, while walking two and striking out two.  Senior Peter Elmer worked the ninth inning to collect his second save of the season and move into second place on the school's all-time list with his seventh career save.

A controversial 5-run seventh inning turned out to be the difference for the Braves Sunday.  Newburger started the rally with a one-out single, then went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Curtis Hornaday.  Brad Jones followed with a ground ball that froze the SIU defense, who thought the first base umpire had called a foul ball.  The play actually was ruled a catcher's interference and Jones was credited with an infield single, advancing Newburger to third, setting off an argument from the Saluki bench.

The play seemed to rattle the Salukis.  Freshman Tony DiMonte followed with a pinch-hit single to plate Newburger for a 5-3 lead.  SIU shortstop Tyler Lairson then committed consecutive errors on ground balls by Ryan Curry and Paul Rice, allowing three unearned runs to score.  After a Ryan Eigsti base hit, Rice eventually scored the fifth run of the inning on a passed ball for a 9-3 lead.

Southern Illinois first baseman Erik Alvarez made things interesting by cranking a grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh, but Brennan bounced back to get the next two outs on a comebacker and a strikeout to end the seventh.  He then worked around a one-out single in the eighth before giving way to Elmer to start the ninth.

After taking 2-of-3 from Creighton and Southern Illinois to start the league season, Bradley faces a busy midweek schedule before hosting Indiana State next weekend.  The Braves will face the Peoria Chiefs, Single A Midwest League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, in a 7-inning exhibition Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by a split doubleheader Wednesday versus Illinois-Chicago (3 p.m.) and Saint Louis (6 p.m.).  All six games next week will be played at O'Brien Field in downtown Peoria.  The $5 general admission tickets for Tuesday's exhibition against the Chiefs will benefit the George P. Shadid Scholarship Fund at Bradley University.