A baseball game was scheduled, but a home run derby broke out instead as the Valparaiso University baseball team opened the final series of the season by hosting Missouri Valley Conference foe Southern Illinois on Thursday afternoon at Emory G. Bauer Field. The two teams combined for 24 runs, 32 hits and 12 home runs with the wind howling out and the ball carrying on a warm and sunny day that saw visiting Southern Illinois rally to prevail 13-11. Kevin Denty (Tinley Park, Ill. / Marian Catholic) had a two-homer game to lead the Beacons.
 
How It Happened

• The tone was set immediately when the game's first pitch went for a home run, the first of two solo shots in the opening inning for the Salukis.
• Valpo responded in the bottom of the second when Spencer Warfield (Fullerton, Calif. / Servite) cracked a game-tying two-run shot, then Valpo went ahead 3-2 on a Liam Patton (Barrington, Ill. / Warsaw) blast in the third.
• After SIU pushed across the first run of the game that was not scored on a home run in the top of the fourth to tie the contest, Kade Reinertson (Huxley, Iowa / responded to give Valpo a 4-3 edge on a run-scoring double down the left-field line in the bottom of the frame. Later in the inning, Denty crushed his first of the day, a two-run big fly that made it 6-3 Valpo.
• SIU's Jordan Bach hit his second home run of the day in the top of the fifth to make it 6-4, then Connor Giusti (Hoffman Estates, Ill. / Fremd) got in on the act with a solo job of his own to make it 7-4 in the last of that frame.
• Southern Illinois hit four home runs in the top of the sixth, scoring six times to rearrange the scoreboard and take a 10-7 lead in what proved to be the key frame of the game. There had already been 11 home runs in the game in the first five and a half innings.
• Reinertson ripped his second double of the day in the last of the sixth to cut the SIU lead to two at 10-8.
• The Salukis got two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to make it 12-8, and those proved pivotal when Denty drilled his second home run of the day in the bottom of the eighth to make it 12-11. The Salukis picked up one more in the top of the ninth to round out the game's scoring.
• Freshman Evan Fulhorst (St. Peters, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt South) did a solid job out of the Valpo bullpen, yielding just one run on three hits over two frames.

Inside the Game

• SIU's seven home runs tied for the 13^th most nationally in a game this season and were the most by a Missouri Valley Conference club.
• Valpo's five home runs tied for the fourth most by a Missouri Valley Conference squad this season.
• Valpo's five home runs surpassed the team's previous season high of four on April 13 at Missouri State.
• The team's five home runs were the squad's most in a single game since hitting eight on April 28 of last season at UIC.
• This marked the first Valpo game where the two teams combined for a double-figure home run total since April 28, 2008 vs. Butler (10). The 12 home runs were the highest combined total in a Valpo game in over 20 years.
• Valpo's 11 runs was the team's highest total since an 11-6 victory at Evansville on March 29.
• The 13 hits for the Beacons represented the squad's highest output since 14 on March 18 at Ball State. The 13 hits on Thursday were the most in a league game for Valpo this season. This was the team's highest hit total in league play since 18 on April 28 of last season at UIC.
• Denty became the first Valpo player with a multi-homer game since Patrick Ilitch on April 13 of this season at Missouri State. Denty doubled his season home run total, entering the day with two and finishing it with four. Denty, who also homered on Tuesday at Northwestern, has three home runs in his last two games after having one in his first 44 this season. He is up to seven collegiate home runs.
• Denty collected a career-high five RBIs.  
• Giusti's home run was his team-leading eighth of the season, his 15^th in a Valpo uniform and the 25^th of his collegiate career. It was his first home run since April 13 at Missouri State.
• Patton had his third home run of the season, sixth at Valpo and his first since March 15 at Illinois. Including his time at Wabash, he's up to 17 career home runs.
• Warfield hit his fourth home run of the season and the sixth of his collegiate career.
• Redshirt junior Patrick Ilitch (Detroit, Mich. / University Liggett) had a team-high three hits including a pair of doubles.
• On a positive note for the pitching staff, Valpo walked just three after issuing a combined 17 walks in the previous two games.

Up Next
The Beacons (8-40, 3-22) will continue the series with the Salukis on Friday at 1 p.m. at Emory G. Bauer Field. Admission is free and the game will air on ESPN+.