BOX SCORE

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team emerged victorious in a back-and-forth battle with visiting Southern Illinois Saturday afternoon at Braun Stadium, as redshirt sophomore Kevin Kaczmarski drove in the game-winning run with a double in the eighth to give the Purple Aces a 5-4 win.
 
“It was a gritty win for us today and we have set ourselves up to sweep this series with a win tomorrow,” head coach Wes Carroll said.  “Kyle (Lloyd) didn’t have his best stuff on the mound today, but our offense was able to pick him up and we were able to get the win.”
 
Kaczmarski finished 4-for-5 on the afternoon and was one of five different Evansville (14-17, 5-3 MVC) hitters to drive in a run.  Senior Jason Hockemeyer and freshman Jonathan Ramon both recorded two hits apiece, while junior David Patton finished 1-for-3 with a pair of walks and a run scored.
 
Freshman Brent Jurceka (1-1) picked up his first career win, tossing 1.1 innings out of the bullpen, fanning three Salukis around just one walk.  Senior Jake Naumann notched his sixth save of the season by recording the final two outs of the contest.
 
Southern Illinois (13-16, 0-5 MVC) took an early 1-0 lead, scoring a run on three hits in the top of the first.  However, the lead was short lived, as the Aces answered with a pair of runs on three hits in the bottom of the inning.  Patton drew a leadoff walk to set the table for UE, before Kaczmarski reached on a bunt single and Hockemeyer and senior Chris Pearson delivered back-to-back RBI singles to put Evansville in front, 2-1.
 
The Salukis tied the game at 2-2 in their half of the second, scoring a run on Wes Neece’s RBI double that caromed off the top of the right field wall.
 
SIU grabbed the lead for the second time in the top of the fourth, when Neece once again drilled a ball to right, clearing the fences for a solo homer that gave Southern Illinois a 3-2 advantage.
 
In the fifth, the Aces took advantage of one of the Salukis’ four errors on the afternoon, as Patton led off the inning by reaching on an error and later scored on Pollock’s sacrifice fly to center, tying the game at 3-3.
 
The Salukis once again grabbed a one-run advantage in the top of the sixth.  Ryan Casillas doubled to start the frame and Luke Mottashed followed with a single to chase UE starter Kyle Lloyd.  Tyler Miller took over on the mound for Lloyd and surrendered an RBI single off the bat of Cody Daily, before limiting the damage by getting Neece to ground into a double play and Ryan Rosthenhausler to fly out to center to end the inning.
 
Ramon led off the Evansville eighth with an infield single to short, before Jake Mahon was called on to pinch run.  Mahon moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from freshman Shain Showers and scored when redshirt junior Nick Hathcoat doubled on a hard ground ball up the middle.  Following a one-out single by Patton that put runners on first and second with just one out, Kaczmarski collected the game-winning hit by doubling off the fence in right field, scoring Hathcoat for the eventual game-winning run.
 
In SIU’s half of the ninth, Jurceka struck out the first batter he faced and Naumann recorded the save, when Matt Jones grounded into a 5-4-3, game-ending double play.
 
Evansville will be looking to sweep the series tomorrow, when the two teams meet the series finale at Noon.  The game was originally slated for 1 p.m., but has been pushed up due to the threat of afternoon rain showers.