A slow start both on the hill and at the plate put the University of Evansville in an early hole they could never could quite dig themselves out of, as the Aces fell 8-6 at Itchy Jones Stadium Friday night.
UE sent out their ace, junior starting pitcher Adam Lukas (5-4) to face the Salukis, and the hard-throwing right-hander got tagged for six runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings of work, his shortest outing of the season. Senior left-hander Alex Weigand would come out of the bullpen to put out the fire.
The Aces bats had been silent through the first three frames, came to live in the fourth inning. First, a groundout to short by freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom drove in senior designated hitter Nate Reeder. Later in the inning, with two aboard, senior left fielder Matthew Jones roped a double down the left field line, bringing in both senior center fielder and freshman right fielder A.J. Fritz, halving the SIU lead to 6-3.
However, Southern Illinois would get to Weigand in the bottom of the fifth, as Aiden McMahan lifted a two-run home run to run. putting SIU back up by four, 8-4.
Evansville kept swinging in the top of the sixth. Matthew Jones delivered an RBI single to left, scoring Troy Beilsmith from second. That would end Salukis starter Mason Heiser night. Then, Sam Troyer would send a single through the right side of the infield, bringing in Jones, drawing the Aces back within two, 8-6.
Weigand would bounce back to combine with freshman left-hander Michael Parks to shut out Southern Illinois. However, the Aces’ bats could not close the gap.
The loss drops Evansville to 21-20 overall and 8-5 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while the win improves SIU’s record to 20-22 overall and 2-11 in the MVC.
Game two of the series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium.
