Luke Cheng hit a two-run home run in the top of the 12th inning to give Illinois State a 10-7 lead and the Redbirds held on to beat Southern Illinois in a Missouri Valley Conference thriller Sunday in Carbondale.

Auggie Rasmussen drove home what was ultimately the winning run in the 12th inning, but Cheng's first career homer put two insurance runs on the scoreboard as Scherbenske threw a scoreless 12th inning.

Trailing 2-1, Daniel Pacella launched a deep home run to right field on the 10th pitch of the at-bat to put the 'Birds on the board in the 4th inning.

The Salukis added a run in the 5th inning, but the Redbirds rallied to tie the game at 3-3 behind a Noah Rabin sacrifice fly and Rasmussen's speed forcing a throwing error to plate the tying run.

SIU retook the lead in the 7th inning, but Rabin smashed a two-run homer to put ISU ahead 5-4 in the 8th inning.

Southern Illinois tied the game in the 8th inning prior to Tyler Woltman drawing a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the 10th inning to plate a run.

The Salukis tied the game in the bottom of the innings before Judah Morris delivered a pinch-hit single to score Rasmussen and give ISU the lead at 7-6 in the 11th inning.

One last time, SIU scored once to tie the game through 11 innings.

Illinois State is 17-23 overall and 6-12 Missouri Valley Conference.

Illinois State is scheduled to travel to Iowa Tuesday for a 6:05 p.m. CT contest.