CARBONDALE, Ill. ? Bradley junior right fielder Colby Luttrell hit a go-ahead 3-run home run in the 10th inning, leading the Braves (14-15, 5-5 MVC) to a 7-3 victory in the opener of their 3-game Missouri Valley Conference weekend series at Southern Illinois (18-13, 3-4) Friday afternoon at Abe Martin Field.

Bradley sophomore right-hander Rob Scahill turned in a solid performance in his starting assignment, limiting the host Salukis to two runs on eight hits in his 7.1 innings, but he missed out on a decision when Southern Illinois pushed across the tying run in the ninth against reliever Brad Altbach.  Despite allowing the run, Altbach improved to 2-4 on the season by getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam atter the run scored in the ninth, then working around a leadoff walk in the 10th.

The Braves outhit Southern Illinois, 18-11, and got multiple hits from seven different players.  Junior first baseman Grant Escue went 3-for-4 with his third home run of the year, a leadoff shot in the fourth, while designated hitter Jim Clayton added a 3-for-4 performance of his own.

Scahill got off to a rough start in the first, allowing runners to reach second and third with one out on a single, a walk and a passed ball.  He escaped the jam by getting a pop out by clean-up hitter Mark Kelly and a ground out by Tyler Bullock.

Escue's fourth-inning blast gave the Braves a 1-0 lead.  Bradley got another run in the fourth, thanks to consecutive one-out singles by Luttrell and Clayton, followed by a third single by Tommy Fitzgerald with two outs.

After his rocky start, Scahill cruised through the next three innings before hitting another rough patch in the fifth.  Bret Maugeri led off the home half of the fifth with a single and worked his way to third on a ground out and a wild pitch.  Chris Murphy delivered a 2-out double to trim Bradley's lead to 2-1, but after he advanced to third on a second wild pitch, Scott Elmendorf grounded out to end the inning.

Bullock then pulled the Salukis into a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with a two-out homer to right field.

Bradley reclaimed the lead in the seventh on an Escue sacrifice fly.  Freshman second baseman Matt Fritz started the seventh-inning rally with a single and advanced to second on a one-out wild pitch.  Nick Mitidiero moved Fritz to third with a single to center and Escue followed with his fly ball to left field.

Bradley used three pitchers to escape the bottom of the eighth with its 3-2 lead in tact.  After Murphy led off the eighth with a bunt single and advanced to second on an Elmendorf sacrifice bunt, senior Lendsey Thomson replaced Scahill.  With the tying run in scoring position, the Braves caught a break when Adam Hills hit a ground ball to shortstop.  Fitzgerald fielded the ball and threw Murphy out at third for the second out.  Thomson hit Kelly with a pitch, however, but Altbach took over and beat Bullock to the bag after his ground ball to first to end the inning.

Although the Salukis forced extra innings by plating the tying run in the ninth, Altbach and the Bradley defense came through with some clutch work to stay alive.

Dean Catemartori and Maugeri opened the ninth with consecutive singles to put runners at the corners and Tyler Lairson followed with a double down the left field line to forge the 3-3 tie.  With the potential winning run at third base and no outs, however, Altbach retired Owen Mackendon on a ground ball back to the mound.  The Braves then intentionally walked Murphy to set up a double play, and that is exactly what they got when Elmendorf hit a ground ball up the middle that Fitzgerald fielded near the bag to start Bradley's fourth twin-killing of the game.

SIU sent its third pitcher, Jimmy Cornell (1-1), to the mound to start the 10th, but Escue greeted him with a single through the left side of the infield. Adam Curynski relieved Cornell and he promptly surrendered a single to Dan Brewer and uncorked a wild pitch to put runners at second and third with no outs.  He then served up Luttrell's go-ahead blast,

After pinch-hitter Mike Brumleve struck out and Rob Elliott popped out, the Braves gained some insurance with a two-out rally.  Fitzgerald singled to center and Fritz reached on a bunt single to put runners at first and second.  The Salukis appeared to be out of the inning when catcher Brett Hendricks hit a pop up into foul territory, but SIU first baseman Adam Hills dropped the ball to keep the inning alive.  Hendricks took advantage of the extended at-bat by hitting an RBI single to right for the 7-3 lead.

Hills drew a leadoff walk from Altbach to start the bottom of the 10th, but he was retired on a Kelly grounder to second.  Altbach then fanned Bullock and got Catemartori to fly out to left field to end the game.

The Braves will shoot for their third straight Valley win Saturday when the teams resume their weekend series with a 2 p.m. game at Abe Martin Field.  The series is scheduled to conclude with a 1 p.m. game Sunday.