Missed opportunities proved to be the difference for the University of Evansville baseball team on Saturday afternoon, and visiting Southern Illinois made the Aces pay for it as the Salukis picked up a 4-0 victory at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
The Aces (25-23, 7-10 Missouri Valley) loaded the bases with no outs in both the second and fourth innings, but SIU starting pitcher Michael Baird was able to work out of the jam on both occasions.
“We didn’t capitalize on our chances when we had them,†UE head coach Wes Carroll said. “We just couldn’t get that RBI knock that we needed to get into the game. Their pitcher did a fantastic job, and hopefully, we can come out on Senior Day tomorrow and pick up some of those clutch hits that we didn’t have today.â€
A Will Farmer two-run single opened up the scoring for SIU (30-19-1, 11-6 MVC) in the fifth, and Connor Kopach immediately followed up with a two run blast to double the advantage.
Baird, who tossed into the eighth inning, allowed eight hits en route to picking up his ninth win of the season.
UE’s Alex Weigand was pegged with the loss to drop to 3-3 on the year after giving up nine hits over six innings. The trio of Josh Jyawook, Boomer Synek and Trey Hair paced the Aces line-up with two hits apiece.
The Aces, who have now dropped three consecutive MVC series, will take on SIU in the final game of 2016 home season at Braun Stadium on Sunday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m., and a ceremony honoring the Aces senior class is slated to begin at 12:40.
NOTES: This weekend marks the 123rd, 124th and 125th meetings between SIU and UE since the Aces started playing at the Division I level in 1978 … In those games, UE is 58-66 … The Aces have taken home 2-1 series victories over the Salukis in each of the past three seasons … The first meeting between the two sides came with a 7-4 SIU win back in 1947, and UE wouldn’t log its first win in the series until a 9-3 decision in 1956 … Since 1978, UE is 246-219 against Illinois schools, which includes a 7-6 mark this season.
