EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Evansville head coach Wes Carroll rolled the dice, giving a freshman his first collegiate start, and Austin Ruesch rewarded him with a strong performance, however Southern Illinois’ Michael Baird managed to top him, as the Salukis get past the Purple Aces, 2-0, at Charles H. Braun Stadium Friday night.
“Ran into a tough arm tonight”, said Carroll. “Our pitchers did a great job throughout, but unfortunately we didn’t get the offensive production to get the win.”
Ruesch appeared to be headed for the shortest of starts, as the Salukis led off the game with back-to-back singles. The freshman right hander would issue a walk later in the opening frame, loading up the bases. However, Ruesch induced a line out to left to get out of the jame unscathed. After dodging another bullet in the second inning, Ruesch settled in, matching his SIU counterpart through four scoreless frames.
In the fifth, the Salukis would get to Ruesch again, as a single, an error and a walk loaded up the bases, ending the freshman’s night. Ruesch would give way to senior right hand reliever Hunter Porterfield, who walked the first batter he faced, bringing in the icebreaker, making it 1- 0 Southern Illinois.
Porterfield would come back to pitch a perfect sixth inning. However, in the seventh, he issued a one out walk and he was pulled in favor of senior relief man Jimmy Ward, who would give up a one out single, then get out of the scrape without permitting an SIU tally. Ward would keep it a one run game until the ninth, when a fielder choice drove in SIU’s second run of the game.
Meanwhile, the Aces bats struggled all night against Baird, who would eventually strike out a career-high 12, as he tossed a complete game shutout, as Evansville fell 2-0.
UE is now 7-28 overall and 1-9 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Southern Illinois improved to 22-20 and 5-5 in the MVC.
The Aces and Salukis square off in game two of the series tomorrow afternoon back at Braun Stadium. First pitch is at 2 p.m.
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