The University of Evansville baseball took their first lead of the series early, got a strong start from Justin Hayden, but couldn’t get their offense rolling, dropping their third straight to Southern Illinois Sunday afternoon in Carbondale, Illinois.
After a scoreless opening frame, the Aces bats went to work. Junior centerfielder Troy Beilsmith a single through the left side of the infield, scoring sophomore first baseman Tanner Craig from third, giving Evansville a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
However, the Salukis would answer back in the bottom of the inning, on a sacrifice fly to right by Aiden McMahan, bringing in the equalizer.
That’s the way it would stay until the bottom of the fifth inning, as Hayden would give up the go-ahead run on a single by Addison Fuggitt, making it 2-1 Southern Illinois.
Hayden (2-2) would exit the game with the bases loaded in the sixth, giving way to freshman left-hander Michael Parks. The southpaw would hold the Salukis to just one run on a fielder’s choice, putting the Aces in a 3-1 hole. For the day, Hayden went 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, two earned on five hits, while striking out seven and walking none.
Parks would roll through SIU lineup in the seventh, but in the eighth the newcomer got tagged for a solo home run to left by Alex Lyon, making it 4-1 Southern Illinois. He would turn things over to senior righty Alex Allinger, who would get the final out of the inning.
However, the Aces offense could not muster any more runs, getting swept out of Itchy Jones Stadium for the second time in three years.
The loss drops Evansville to 21-22 on the season and 8-7 in Missouri Valley Conference standings. Southern Illinois improves to 22-22 overall and 4-11 in league play.
