PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Southern Illinois came back from a five-run deficit to edge North Dakota State 10-9 on Saturday, Feb. 16, in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge at Nancy Almaraz Field.
 
NDSU (4-4) is scheduled to play host No. 21/20-ranked Auburn (5-3) at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, at the Tiger Invitational.
 
North Dakota State trailed 2-0 but exploded for five runs in the top of the second inning. Maddie Hansen led off with her second home run of the season, Madyson Camacho laced a two-out double to plate a pair of runs, Stephanie Soriano followed with a RBI single and Nicole Licea hit a run-scoring double to left to close out the scoring.
 
While Southern Illinois cut the deficit to 5-3, NDSU responded with three more runs to extend the lead to 8-3. Sam Koehn hit a sacrifice fly, Cara Beatty followed with a RBI double to right center and Camacho collected a RBI single. Camacho went 2-for-4 with a career-high three RBI.
 
The Salukis (7-2) hit the comeback trail with four runs in the top of the fourth and took advantage of a bases-loaded walk, a pair of hits and an error to cut the deficit to 8-7.
 
Southern Illinois tied the game at 8-8 in the sixth inning on a throwing error, and then Jenny Jansen hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh to put the Salukis ahead 10-8. Jansen went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a double, while Ashley Wood finished with a triple, single and two RBI.
 
Claire Miller and Brianna Jones with Jones earning the win. The pair combined to walk one and strike out one.
 
Paige Vargas and KK Leddy (3-3) pitched for NDSU with Leddy picking up the loss. The pair combined to strike out seven and walk four. The Bison had four errors in the game.
 
North Dakota State outhit Southern Illinois 13-10. Soriano and Hansen each went 3-for-4, while Montana DeCamp joined Camacho with two hits.