Jordan Parr almost got pulled from the best game of his career.

It happened in the third inning, with Illinois trailing 4-1, when he launched a three-run home run over the left field scoreboard that, for a moment, seemed like it might land across Kirby Avenue and into the cemetery. Parr stood and watched from the batter’s box, and then gave an exaggerated bat flip that landed in the foul grass toward the Southern Illinois dugout.

Any other team would have likely thrown at his head during his next at-bat, but Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb has a good relationship with his former team. Hartleb thought about pulling Parr, but decided against it. 

“There’s unwritten rules in baseball, and he crossed that line,” Hartleb said. “I did think about it. My decision was to yell at him. And the reason I made that decision is because there’s a lot of guys who have worked very, very hard to put us into a position to possibly get an at-large bid, and each and every game is very important. He knows what’s expected. We had a one-sided conversation, and it’s over.”

Parr would stay in the game and almost single-handily will Illinois to an 11-7 victory over Southern, going 3-for-5 with two three-run home runs and a career-high seven RBIs.

However, Parr didn’t seem apologetic after the game.

“I think I earned that,” he said of his post-blast gaze. 

He would add a second three-run home run in the fifth inning.

Quietly, Jordan Parr has put together his own 11-game hitting streak to raise his batting average to .331 after Tuesday’s game when it had dropped to as low as .277 in an 0-for-3 performance against Eastern Illinois on April 9. His home runs on Tuesday were his first since March 30. 

“This was a huge weight off me,” Parr said. “Last 10 games or so, I feel like I’ve been putting it better, but there was about two series in a row where I just started pressing, and today it all clicked.”

“He’s capable of carrying a team,” Hartleb said. “He’s had about a month where he has struggled and hasn’t had quality at-bat after quality at-bat, and tonight he did. So it’s good to see him break out of that slump. So if we can get him and Justin (Parr) going in the middle of the lineup, we’re dangerous.”

Much of the attention has gone to his brother, Justin, who extended his school-record hitting streak to 28 games with a single in the first inning.

The Illini fans were watching and seemingly holding their breath for Justin Parr in the fifth when he crashed shoulder-first into the center field wall chasing down a fly ball and then fell to the ground. 

Jordan was the first man to reach him from left field as he hurried to get the ball into the infield.

“You good, you OK?” Jordan said to him.

Justin just kind of shook his head because he couldn’t reply with the wind knocked out of him. 

Jordan proceeded to insult him and tell him to get up. 

By then, Southern’s Austin Montgomery had pulled into third base standing up for a two-run triple that gave Southern a 6-4 lead at the time. 

It appeared as though Hartleb would remove Justin Parr from the game, and he thought about it for a second. Justin validated Hartleb’s decision to leave him in when in the bottom of the fifth inning, he  doubled down the left field line to set up Jordan’s second home run.

“The way he reacted, where he wasn’t holding his shoulder or something, I was fairly confident that he was OK,” Hartleb said. “If I really thought that he was hurt seriously, I would’ve been out there right away.”

After Justin crashed into the wall, Hartleb heard something from the Southern Illinois dugout that prompted him to come out to talk to the home plate umpire. 

A warning was issued to both benches.  

“That whole situation was our fault, everything that happened,” Hartleb said. “We don’t play that way, we’re not going to show people up.”

Jamal can be reached at collie10

@dailyillini.com and @jamalcollier.