EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For eight innings, the University of Evansville baseball team was in control, however the final frame belonged to Southern Illinois, as the Salukis edged the Purple Aces 5-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play at Braun Stadium Saturday afternoon.
“Obviously another tough loss,” said University of Evansville head coach Wes Carroll. “We’re a team late in the season, still trying to learn how to win. Here we are in the ninth inning, with a two run lead, and we hand the game over to them with walks and hit by pitches. It’s very unfortunate.”
Carroll sent junior left hander Alex Weigand out to start against SIU, who got himself in and out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the first inning unscathed.
The Evansville offense rewarded Weigand in the bottom of the inning, beginning with sophomore center fielder Kenton Crews’ RBI single to left-center, tallying senior third baseman Stewart Nelson for the icebreaker. Senior catcher Andrew Tanous followed that up with a two-run single, which scored both Crews and sophomore shortstop Craig Shepherd, giving the Aces a 3-0 lead after one inning.
SIU would get one back in the top of the second on an RBI single by Grey Epps. However, UE would get it right back in the bottom of the frame, as junior second baseman Sam Troyer delivered a one out double down the third baseline. Some heads up base running allowed Troyer to steal third, then Stewart Nelson would ground out to short. That would bring in Troyer, building the Aces lead back up to 4-1.
The Salukis would whittle that down in the top of the third, cutting the Evansville lead to 4-2 on a throwing error. Then, Weigand give way to the bullpen in the fourth, beginning with junior righty Austin Allinger, who would keep SIU off the scoreboard for the next 3-plus innings.
Allinger would turn the game over to senior reliever Ryan Brady in the eighth frame, who, after giving up a one out single, induced an inning double play, as Evansville took a 4-2 lead into the ninth.
Brady came out to finish the game off, but after striking out the first batter of the inning, walked the bases full. Then, Brady plunked Niko Vasic, bringing in a run, cutting the UE lead to 4-3. With the bases still loaded, Brady was replaced by freshman right hander Jace Burke. The first batter he faced, Alex Lyon, hit a fluky infield single, which allowed the tying run to tally. Then, Connor Kopach lifted a sacrifice fly to center, bringing in the go-ahead run, making it 5-4 Southern Illinois.
In their last at bat, the Aces got a pinch hit single by senior Travis Tokarek, but couldn’t cash him for the tying run.
“Through the course of the game, our offense didn’t take advantage of some opportunities to extend the lead,” said Carroll. “We let a good team stick around, and put us away. Very unfortunate. We’ve got to come to the yard with a lot of energy tomorrow.”
The loss drops Evansville to 7-29 on the season and 1-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while SIU improves tp 23-20 and 6-5 in the MVC.
The Aces and Salukis cross paths one more time in the series finale Sunday afternoon back at Charles H. Braun Stadium. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville baseball, log on to the sport page on GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthleticsBASE.
-
- DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.
- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page
