CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Nic Baker threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Izaiah Hartrup on a fourth down with 11 seconds left as #15 Southern Illinois (3-0) pulled off a 26-25 come-from-behind win over #13 Southeast Missouri (1-2) Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 8,613 at Houck Field.
 
SIU converted on 4-of-6 fourth downs during the game and none was bigger than Baker's pass to Hartrup which came on a fourth-and-1. The Salukis trailed the entire game until the final 11 ticks on the clock.
 
The Salukis managed to win a game where they turned the ball over four times and Baker regrouped to throw his game-winner after being sacked by Bryce Norman on the previous play.
 
SIU forced the biggest turnover of the game when Desman Hearns stripped the ball away from Geno Hess and recovered the ball on a third-and-5 with 1:46 on the clock giving the Salukis their final shot.
 
DC Pippin kicked field goals of 38 and 39 yards to grab SEMO a 6-0 lead early on.
 
After Kyron Downing downed Logan Leftrick's 38-yard punt at SIU's 1-yard line, the Redhawk defense tacked on two more points when Steven Lewis and Christian Fuhrman tackled Ro Elliott in the end zone giving the Redhawks an 8-0 advantage. The safety was SEMO's first in two years.
 
The only touchdown of the first half came on a nice 8-play, 98-yard march by SEMO. Eric Ivory Jr. intercepted Baker's pass at the Redhawks 2-yard line before SEMO went to work deep in its own territory.
 
Three SIU penalties, including a pass interference, holding and personal foul helped SEMO get to the 50-yard line. Three plays later, Paxton DeLaurent completed a 15-yard pass to Damoriea Vick and then tossed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Sellers. Sellers' first career TD pushed the Redhawks lead to 15-0 at the intermission.
 
SIU got to SEMO's 38-yard line before the first half came to a close, but Ivory picked off Baker a second time to end the threat.
 
SEMO's defense had two takeaways and held SIU under four yards per play (3.5) in the opening two quarters of play.
 
During the first drive of the second half, what appeared to be a backward pass was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by Henry Pickens III. However, the play was overturned following a replay review and SIU retained possession.
 
SIU later scored its first points of the game on a 5-yard run by Ro Elliott which finished off a 9-play, 90-yard march in 3:45. Keandre Booker blocked the PAT as the Salukis narrowed SEMO's lead to 15-6 with 11:12 remaining in the third quarter.
 
After SEMO punted, SIU struck again. Baker threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Vinson Davis to make it a 15-13 ballgame at the 8:32 mark.
 
The Redhawks answered when Jack Clinkenbeard's big 30-yard reception off a deflection by an SIU defender set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Hess. Hess' third TD of the season extended SEMO's lead to 22-13 with 6:36 on the clock. That touchdown came in less than two minutes for the Redhawks.
 
SEMO forced a turnover on back-to-back SIU drives. Booker forced and recovered a fumble. Then, on the Salukis' next possession, Lawrence Johnson forced a fumble and Ty Leonard recovered.
 
That turnover led to a 40-yard field goal by Pippin that widened the Redhawks lead to 25-13 with 12:37 to go in the fourth quarter.
 
SIU continued to chip away and converted two fourth downs to keep its next scoring drive alive. The second of those came when Baker threw an 18-yard pass to Jaelin Benefield on a fourth-and-6. One play after that, Baker tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Izaiah Hartrup cutting SEMO's lead to 25-20 with 7:40 left to play.
 
SIU outgained SEMO, 543-337, and scored its decisive 13 points in the fourth quarter.
 
DeLaurent completed 26-of-46 passes for 251 yards and one touchdown, and Hess ran for 99 yards and one score to lead SEMO offensively.
 
Norman, who missed last week's game with a shoulder injury, returned to lead SEMO's defense with 12 tackles, two pass breakups, a half-sack and quarterback hurry. Ivory Jr. added seven tackles to go along with his career-high two interceptions.
 
SEMO and SIU met for the 91st time in what is the longest rivalry for both programs.
 
The sellout was the Redhawks first at Houck Field since Oct. 30, 2010. On that date, SEMO had a record crowd of 11,126 against UT Martin.
 
SEMO returns to action when it visits Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 23.